14 DAY TRIAL // KDE SC 4.6 is here, right on schedule. The latest release of the popular software compilation brings plenty of updates and new feature across all of its main components. The KDE Plasma Workspaces come with a new Activities system, which should make it easier to manage different tasks, several KDE applications come with new features, including Dolphin, and the KDE Platform has some new capabilities as well.
"KDE is delighted to announce its latest set of releases, providing major updates to the KDE Plasma workspaces, KDE Applications and KDE Platform. These releases, versioned 4.6, provide many new features in each of KDE's three product lines," the official announcement read.
The KDE Plasma Workspaces get a brand new Activities manager. The idea is to enable users to group applications depending on how and when they use them.
A good example is creating different 'activities' for Work and Home. This way, switching from one activity to another, the whole set of applications associated with them changes as well.
The window and compositing manager Kwin has seen some updates as well, notably a big improvement in speed and performance, the result of plenty of optimization work.
Those that prefer a clean, unified look for their desktop, but can't commit to just one set of applications, either built on KDE or GTK, will appreciate the new Oxygen GTK theme which does an even better job at integrating GKT applications with the KDE workspace.
The KDE file manager Dolphin introduces a new way to browse and find files, faceted browsing. Especially useful if you have a lot of files, faceted browsing enables you to find files based on a variety of filters and metadata.
Another interesting addition is the possibility to export photos and screenshots directly to a number of social networks or photo sharing sites - such as Facebook, Flickr, Picasa and so on - in Gwenview and KSnapshot.
There are plenty of other updates and improvements in KDE SC 4.6. You can check out some of the application highlights here. The new features in the Plasma workspaces are detailed here. Finally, some of the 'under the hood' improvements are listed here.
KDE SC 4.6 (source code) is available for download here on Softpedia.
