14 DAY TRIAL // The last release candidate for the upcoming KDE Software Compilation 4.5 has been made available. If everything goes smoothly, KDE SC 4.5 RC3 is, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to the final version. The third release candidate is purely a bug-fixing release and also includes better localization for most of the over 55 languages officially supported.
The team has issued this third release candidate to ensure that no major bugs still remain undetected. By, the strictest definition, this should be considered the first release candidate while previous versions were more like beta software. Assuming no big issues are uncovered, KDE SC 4.5 final should be landing next week.
“Today, KDE delivers the third release candidate of the upcoming KDE Software Compilation 4.5. The KDE Software Compilation consists of the Plasma Desktop and Netbook workspaces, a large number of applications for all purposes and the KDE development platform the applications and workspaces are built upon,” the official announcement explained
“The final version will be available next week This last RC is intended for verifying no showstoppers will creep into the final release of 4.5.0. It will also interest those who want an early look at what is coming to their desktops and netbooks this summer,” the announcement continued.
What to expect from KDE SC 4.5:
· An overhauled notification area which relies on D-Bus to provide a consistent look and feel to all applications. This replaces the old “system tray” model; · KWin-Tiling enables windows to be automatically placed (tiled) next to each other; · Konqueror users can opt for the WebKit rendering engine as an alternative to KHTML, if they want something with wider support from web developers. WebKit will be an optional install and won’t be packaged with the standard KDE SC 4.5 release; · An emphasis on stability and polishing the existing features and components.
KDE SC 4.5.0 RC3 sources are available for download here on Softpedia. Remember that this is a testing 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. Please report any possible security issues to security at kde.org.