"KDE, the K Desktop Environment, is a free software project
based on a desktop environment for UNIX®-like systems. It
provides basic desktop functions and applications for daily needs,
as well as tools and documentation for developers to write
standalone applications for the system. KDE software is based on
the Qt toolkit. The centerpiece of the fourth series of KDE is a
redesigned desktop and panels, collectively called Plasma, which
integrates the functionality of Kicker, KDesktop, and SuperKaramba
into one piece of technology. KDE 4 offers new hope
"The fourth major version of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) was
released in January 2008 to mixed reactions. The release marked a
major undertaking:
"Much of the KDE 3 codebase was completely rewritten. A large
number of new technologies were created. Most of the codebase was
refactored in some way, shape, or form.
"While the initial 4.0 release showed great potential, the scope
of the changes meant that the release would not achieve feature
parity with KDE 3. Therefore, it was widely reported as being
unstable in certain areas, and some users were reluctant to make
the switch immediately. Many of these shortcomings were addressed
with the 4.1 release, but there were still notable feature
omissions.
"With the January 2009 release of KDE 4.2, however, most of
these concerns were addressed, and many users decided to start
using 4.2 as their main desktop environment."
