Linux Journal offers this review of KDE 2.1.1, noting the
enhancements both in the end user experience and some of the
back-end plumbing as well. ays “KDE is poised to answer many of the
questions surrounding Linux’ viability on the desktop,” says the
reviewer.
“KDE developers may be one step closer to
“konquering” the desktop with the most recent 2.1.1 release of
the K Desktop Environment (http://www.kde.org/). The development
cycle has intensified since the 1.0 series, bringing new features
and stability improvements to users at an ever-increasing rate. In
fact, as of this writing, the first alpha version of KDE 2.2 has
been released for testing. End users and developers alike will
benefit from the newest offering. Currently supporting 34
languages, KDE is poised to answer many of the questions
surrounding Linux’ viability on the desktop.In addition to stability enhancements, the latest release
includes a large number of cosmetic improvements that create a more
unified and polished interface. Kicker, the 2.0 replacement of
KPanel, received a number of new features as well as the return of
an old one. For all of those WindowMaker users who just can’t bare
to part with their beloved dock applets, yearn no more. Kicker is
now able to swallow your favorite applets into a new dock
application bar (see Figure 1). Support has also been added for
child panels, and the external taskbar noticeably absent from
version 2.0 has returned, along with theme manager. Despite the
re-inclusion of the theme manager, a lack of integration between
the various theme-able elements of the desktop is still present.
Widget styles, icons, colors, backgrounds and KWin decorations each
need to be managed from their own individual Control Center
modules. The work of the KDE artists team is not be overlooked,
however. A number of icons were added and improved, and the new
splash screens serve to unify desktop applications (see Figure
2).”