DATELINE MARCH 20, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KDE Project Ships Translation and Service Release for Leading Open Source Desktop

KDE Project Ships Translation and Service Release of Third-Generation GNU/Linux - UNIX Desktop, Offering Enterprises and Governments a Compelling Free and Open Desktop Solution

March 20th, 2003 (The INTERNET). The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.1.1, a maintenance release for the third generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE 3.1.1 ships with a basic desktop 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 51 languages.

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.

Enhancements

KDE 3.1.1 is a maintenance release which provides some new translations (Croatian (hr), Icelandic (is), Northern Sami (se) and Swati (ss)), as well as corrections of problems reported using the KDE bug tracking system. For a more detailed list of improvements since the KDE 3.1 release in late January, please refer to the KDE 3.1.1 Changelog.

For additional information about the enhancements of the KDE 3.1.x release series, please see the KDE 3.1 New Feature Guide and the KDE 3.1 Announcement.

Installing KDE 3.1.1 Binary Packages

Packaging Policies. Some Linux/UNIX OS vendors have kindly provided binary packages of KDE 3.1.1 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 3.1.1 Info Page.

Compiling KDE 3.1.1

Source Code. The complete source code for KDE 3.1.1 may be freely downloaded. Instructions on compiling and installing KDE 3.1.1 are available from the KDE 3.1.1 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.

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.