The first beta release of the upcoming KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC) 4.5.0 was announced last evening, May 26th, by the KDE developers. Dubbed cucumber, KDE SC 4.5.0 Beta 1 brings many improvements and new features. KDE Software Compilation 4.5 is composed of the KDE Plasma Workspace, the KDE Applications and the KDE Development Platform, and this beta release is intended to be used by testers and advanced users who want to take a peek at what's coming on their favorite desktop environment. The final release of KDE SC 4.5.0 will be available in August 2010.

"Initially planned for KDE SC 4.5.0, the KDE PIM team have decided to delay the release of the Akonadi-based KMail for one month. The new version of KMail will be delivered as part of one of KDE's monthly bugfix updates. In the meantime, the stable version of KMail from KDE SC 4.4 will be maintained. Akonadi will centralize syncing and caching of PIM data, deliver wider support for groupware servers and makes handling PIM data, such as contacts, calendaring and email more efficient by sharing it across applications." - was stated in the official release announcement.

Highlights of KDE SC 4.5.0 Beta 1:

· Revamped notification area;
· Added KWin-Tiling effect, which automatically places windows next to each other;
· WebKit web browser engine can now be used in Konqueror;
· Improved overall stability of the software components in KDE SC 4.5;
· Many other amazing, new features!

KDE Software Compilation 4.5.0 will ship with many packages, including web-development applications, educational tools, administrative programs, and more, all of which will be available in over 50 languages.

The reworked notification area in KDE Plasma - Image courtesy of KDE

The KDE SC 4.5.0 Beta 1 sources can be downloaded right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only. Please report bugs to bugs.kde.org.