The new KDE desktop is shaping up to be a very interesting one

Jun 11, 2014 15:35 GMT  ·  By

The KDE Project developers have revealed that the second Beta version of the next-generation Plasma workspace has been released.

Plasma Next has been built to eventually replace the current KDE Plasma, which seems to have run its course. This doesn't means that the current Plasma used by the KDE project won't be supported anymore, just that a change is coming in the near future.

The reception of the new KDE Plasma has been mixed. Some users have appreciated what the developers are trying to do, but others think that it's too close to Windows (that might be a stretch).

Just like the new Ubuntu Touch and Unity, Plasma Next is built using QML and runs on top of a fully hardware-accelerated graphics stack using Qt 5, QtQuick 2, and an OpenGL(-ES) scenegraph.

"The new Breeze theme, which is still in its infancy, welcomes the user with a cleaner, modernized user interface, which improves contrast and reduces visual clutter throughout the workspace. Stronger reliance on typography, and vertical lists instead of horizontal ones go together with flatter UI elements and improved contrast to improve the ease of use. Breeze being a new artwork concept, it is only starting to show its face."

"A theme for the workspace components is already available, theming of traditional widgets is under way, and the work on a new icon theme has commenced. The migration to a fully Breeze-themed workspace will be a gradual one, with its first signs showing up in Plasma 5.0," reads the official announcement.

The developers have also explained that the widget explorer, the window and activity switcher are now better integrated, the Plasma 5 workspace shell is now able to load and switch much faster, and more, and the stability of the project has been improved as well.

There are a number of ways of testing the new Beta release of Plasma Next. Some distributions have already integrated it in the repositories, but a live OS image update with the latest builds straight from source, called Neon5 ISO, is also available for download.

The Live image is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and it can help users see what the new desktop environment actually looks like.

More details about this build and the changes in the Plasma Next branch can be found in the official announcement. Also, you can download the latest Plasma Next sources right now from the website.

Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.