KDE 1.89 Release Announcement
Wednesday, 15 December 1999
Gearing Towards 2nd Generation Desktop Environment
The K Desktop Environment (KDE) Team is happy to announce KRASH, an unstable developers release of the upcoming KDE 2.0 Desktop Environment.
KRASH is intended to provide a stable API for KDE developers who are outside the main KDE project to begin porting their applications to. While many of the core KDE 2.0 applications are incomplete or bugg at this point due to a focus on base library functionality, this snapshot does provide an API consistent with what will be released in the final version. Where changes occur, they will be fully documented.
This is not a snapshot intended to be usable by end users. We strongly recommend users remain with the latest stable version, KDE 1.1.2, until KDE 2.0 will be released. Even people developing for the new KDE 2.0 might wish to remain with KDE 1.1.2 as their primary desktop system.
KDE 2.0 is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2000. This date is subject to change without further notice.
WHERE TO DOWNLOAD
KRASH can be downloaded from:
ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/distribution/tar/genericOr one of its mirror sites.
KRASH requires a recent snapshot of the Qt 2.1 toolkit. The 15 Dec 1999 version of such a snapshot is provided at the above location for your convenience. Please note that this version of Qt has not been released yet by Trolltech and that this version is not officially supported by either KDE or Trolltech. KRASH does NOT work with Qt 1.x or Qt 2.0.
INCLUDED IN THIS RELEASE
| kdesupport | - General support libraries |
| kdelibs | - KDE libraries |
| kdebase | - KDE desktop environment |
| koffice | - KDE office suite |
GOAL OF THE KRASH (1.89) RELEASE
- Stabilize development.
- Offer third party developers a convenient way to become familiar with Qt2.x / KDE 2.x
REMARKS
KRASH is alpha quality software. It is not recommended to use KRASH for daily work. Although the API of KRASH should be relatively stable, CHANGES will be made to it before the final KDE 2.0 release. It is not recommended to publically release applications based on this snapshot.
Distributors should NOT SHIP this release without providing a stable and complete version of KDE as well.
PLANNED CHANGES
In the following areas major changes are foreseen between now and KDE 2.0:
- Interface and launch method of the IO-Slaves (kio / kioslaves)
- File selection dialog (kfile rewrite)
- Parts embedding (kparts redesign)
- Advanced features of HTML widget (khtml)
- Embedding within kicker (kapplet)
- Sound system
ABOUT KDE
KDE is a collaborative Open Source project by hundreds of developers worldwide to create a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop environment employing a network-transparent, intuitive user interface. KDE includes applications for email, web browsing, system administration, dial-up networking, scheduling, Palm Pilot(r) synchronization, and many other tasks. KDE is working proof of the power of the open source software development model.
The elegance and usefulness of the KDE environment has been recognized through multiple awards, including Linux World magazine's "Editor's Choice" award in the Desktop Environment category, and Ziff-Davis' "Innovation of the year 1998/1999" award in the Software category.
For more information about KDE, please visit http://www.kde.org/whatiskde/.