KDE 3.1 Release Announcement

Tuesday, 28 January 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KDE Project Ships Major Feature Release of Leading Open Source Desktop, Improves Enterprise Usability

KDE Project Ships Major Feature Upgrade of Third- Generation GNU/Linux - UNIX Desktop, Offering Enterprises and Governments a Compelling Free and Open Desktop Solution

The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.1, a major feature upgrade to the third generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE 3.1 ships with a basic desktop, an integrated development environment and seventeen other packages (PIM, administration, network, edutainment, utilities, multimedia, games, artwork, web development and more). KDE's award-winning tools and applications are available in 47 languages.

Consistent with KDE's rapid but disciplined development pace, the release of KDE 3.1 heralds an impressive catalog of feature enhancements and additions. As has been typical in recent KDE major releases, a great many of the new features provide welcome news particularly to private and public enterprises.

"We are delighted to see the KDE Project placing such a strong emphasis on Enterprise Desktops," noted Markus Rex, Vice President of Research and Development at SuSE. "Features like the kiosk mode, the improved Mail-encryption and the new remote Desktop operation are key components of SuSE's upcoming office and enterprise product lines."

"People interested in deploying KDE in the enterprise will be pleased with the kiosk features that have been added to KDE 3.1," explained Waldo Bastian, a lead developer in the "KDE Kiosk" initiative. "These new features make it easy to lock down parts of the KDE desktop, precluding users from making unapproved configuration changes or even running unapproved applications."

"Recent additions to KDE's email security and groupware functionality, implemented at the initiative of the German federal government, will bring KDE a long way towards general use not only on the corporate desktop, but also in governments across the European Union and elsewhere," noted Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, President of KDE e.V. as well as Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, one of the companies contracted by the German government to implement the new functionality in close cooperation with the KDE community.

"KDE 3.1 is easily the best overall Open Source desktop ever released," added Andreas Pour, Chairman of the KDE League. "From enterprise support to eye candy to security, this release is a testament to the success of Internet collaboration."

KDE, including all its libraries and its applications, is available for free under Open Source licenses. KDE can be obtained in source and numerous binary formats from the KDE http or ftp mirrors, and can also be obtained on CD-ROM or with any of the major GNU/Linux - UNIX systems shipping today.

Major Enhancements

KDE 3.1 brings a large number of impressive feature enhancements to KDE users. Chief among these are:

• Enhanced security (S/MIME, PGP/MIME and X.509v3 support) for the email client (KMail).
• Exchange 2000 compatibility for the calendaring client (KOrganizer).
• Greatly improved LDAP integration throughout the KDE PIM framework.
• A desktop "lockdown" framework which enables system administrators to restrict various configuration settings, such as bookmarks, and user actions, such as launching applications ("KDE Kiosk").
• A desktop sharing framework which currently is ideal for remote technical assistance by a technical support staff (KRfb, KRdc).
• Tabbed browsing in the web browser (Konqueror).
• A web development platform with support for PHP (Quanta Plus).
• A new download manager to simplify and enhance managing downloads using the file manager (KGET).
• An original and creative new default style (Keramik) and a contemporary and impressively original new default icon style (Crystal Icons).
• A new multimedia player plugin (based on Xine).
• A number of new games, including a golf game (Kolf) and a board game inspired by the New Jersey boardwalk (Atlantik).

Please visit the KDE 3.1 New Feature Guide for a more detailed description (including thumbnails and screenshots) of what is new in this release.

Installing KDE 3.1 Binary Packages

Packaging Policies. Some Linux/UNIX OS vendors have kindly provided binary packages of KDE 3.1 for some versions of their distribution, and in other cases community volunteers have done so. Some of these binary packages are available for free download from KDE's http or ftp mirrors. Additional binary packages, as well as updates to the packages now available, may become available over the coming weeks.

Please note that the KDE Project makes these packages available from the KDE web site as a convenience to KDE users. The KDE Project provides source code, not binary packages; it is the responsibility of the OS vendors to package the source code into binary packages. The KDE Project is not responsible for these packages as they are provided by third parties - typically, but not always, the distributor of the relevant distribution - using tools, compilers, library versions and quality assurance procedures over which KDE exercises no control. If you cannot find a binary package for your OS, or you are displeased with the quality of binary packages available for your system, please read the KDE Binary Package Policy and/or contact your OS vendor.

Package Locations. For a current list of available binary packages of which the KDE Project has been informed, please visit the KDE 3.1 Info Page.

Compiling KDE 3.1

Source Code. The complete source code for KDE 3.1 may be freely downloaded. Instructions on compiling and installing KDE 3.1 are available from the KDE 3.1 Info Page.

KDE Sponsorship

Besides the superb and invaluable efforts by the KDE developers themselves, significant support for KDE development has been provided by MandrakeSoft and SuSE. In addition, the members of the KDE League provide significant support for KDE promotion, IBM has donated significant hardware to the KDE Project, and the University of Tübingen and the University of Kaiserslautern provide most of the Internet bandwidth for the KDE project. Thanks!

About KDE

KDE is an independent project of hundreds of developers, translators, artists and other professionals worldwide collaborating over the Internet to create and freely distribute a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop and office environment employing a flexible, component-based, network-transparent architecture and offering an outstanding development platform. KDE provides a stable, mature desktop, a full, component-based office suite (KOffice), a large set of networking and administration tools and utilities, and an efficient, intuitive development environment featuring the excellent IDE KDevelop. KDE is working proof that the Open Source "Bazaar-style" software development model can yield first-rate technologies on par with and superior to even the most complex commercial software.

Press Release: Written by Andreas Pour from the KDE League, with the invaluable assistance of numerous generous volunteers from the KDE Project.
Release Coordinator: Thanks to Dirk Mueller for his services as release coordinator.

Trademark Notices. KDE and K Desktop Environment are trademarks of KDE e.V.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.

All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are the property of their respective owners.