14 DAY TRIAL // The first alpha release of the most awaited project of this year, KDE 4.0, was released last night by the hard-working people behind the KDE project: "The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first alpha release of the KDE Desktop Environment, version 4.0. This release is a basis for the integration of powerful new technologies that will be included in KDE 4."
Highlights of this first alpha release include:
? A new visual appearance through Oxygen; ? New frameworks to build applications with, providing vastly improved hardware and multimedia integration (through Solid and Phonon), spelling and grammar checking, to name just a few; ? New applications that focus on a smooth user experience, such as Dolphin, the file manager, and Okular, the document viewer;
The KDE 4.0 schedule:
1 April 2007 - Subsystem freeze 15 Apr 2007 - kdelibs Hackathon week 1 May 2007 - Alpha release + kdelibs soft API freeze 8 May 2007 - Usability and Accessibility review 1 June 2007 - Feature freeze 25 June 2007 until 24 September 2007 - Beta cycle, full kdelibs API freeze 25 September 2007 until 22 October 2007 - Release Candidate cycle 23 October 2007 - KDE 4.0 released
They have also set up a future plan page intended to indicate if features are completed, in progress or only as a notion project, and a module status page which lists the overall status of the different KDE main modules.
KDE is a powerful Free Software graphical desktop environment for Linux and Unix workstations. It combines ease of use, contemporary functionality and outstanding graphical design with the technological superiority of the Unix operating system. KDE is a network transparent contemporary desktop environment for UNIX workstations. KDE seeks to fill the need for an easy to use desktop for Unix workstations, similar to the desktop environments found under the Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows.
For more details on this alpha release, please visit the KDE 4.0 Alpha 1 official webpage.
Until the final release of KDE 4.0 will be available in late October, you can download this first alpha version of KDE Four now from Softpedia and you can also download the KDE LiveCD version 0.1.0 based on this first alpha release, from Sopftpedia.