DATELINE AUGUST 19, 2004

KDE Project Ships New Major Release Of Leading Open Source Desktop Environment

Splash

August 19, 2004 (The Internet) - The KDE Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of KDE 3.3, the fourth major release of the award-winning KDE3 desktop platform. Over the past six months, hundreds of applications and desktop components have been enhanced by a community of developers, with a particular focus on integration of components.

Stephan Kulow, KDE Release Coordinator, said: "The desktop reached a quality hard to top in previous releases. Nevertheless, KDE 3.3 is a great improvement and will further strengthen KDE's position as the leading Free desktop environment."

Building upon previous releases, version 3.3 provides an integrated desktop and a comprehensive set of applications that make KDE the most usable and feature-rich environment of its kind. Responding to the needs of their users, KDE developers have implemented an impressive range of new features, as well as several new applications that make your desktop even more productive and pleasing to use. Of note in this release are the many integration efforts, linking applications across the desktop together to save you unecessary time and effort. Stephan Kulow added that "improvements in terms of usability, stability and integration are particularly noticeable in the KDE PIM (Personal Information Management) suite."

Reflecting its international team and focus, KDE 3.3 is currently available in over 50 different languages. Partial translations into 30 other languages are also available, many of which are expected to be completed during the KDE 3.3 life cycle. During the past six months, Qt gained increased support for Indic languages, and languages as diverse as Farsi and Frisian were added. With 89 different languages and full localization support, no other desktop is as ready to serve the needs of today's global community.

KDE has earned a reputation for quality and a comprehensive feature set among its global user base that is estimated to number in the millions. KDE is also proud to be the default user interface for several operating systems including Ark Linux, Conectiva, Knoppix, Linspire, Lycoris, Mandrake Linux, SUSE Linux, TurboLinux and Xandros. KDE is also available as a part of Debian, Free/Open/NetBSD, Gentoo, Libranet, Fedora, Slackware and Solaris, among others. In addition to these operating system vendors, more and more companies are offering commercial support for KDE, some of which are listed in the business directory of the KDE::Enterprise website. With the release of KDE 3.3, the KDE Project looks to enhance and grow this ecosystem of users and supporters.

Highlights At A Glance

Some of the highlights in KDE 3.3 are listed below.

For a more detailed list of improvements since the KDE 3.2 release, please refer to the KDE 3.3 Change Log.

Getting KDE 3.3

KDE 3.3 can be downloaded over the Internet by visiting download.kde.org. Source code and vendor supplied and supported binary packages are available. KDE 3.3 will also be featured in upcoming releases of various Linux and UNIX operating systems and can be purchased separately on CD-ROM. For additional information on package availability and to read further release notes, please visit the KDE 3.3 information page.

KDE is available at no cost and all source code, art and documentation is freely available under Open Source licenses. Additional third-party KDE applications can be downloaded from kde-apps.org. KDE 3.3 is also compatible with other Linux and UNIX software packages including popular Open Source applications such as Open Office and the Mozilla web browser.

Supporting KDE

KDE is supported through voluntary contributions of time, money and resources by individuals and companies from around the world. To discover how you or your company can join in and help support KDE please visit the Supporting KDE web page. There may be more ways to support KDE than you imagine, and every bit of support helps make KDE a better project and a better product for everyone. Communicate your support today with a monetary donation, new hardware or a few hours of your time!


Press Release: Written by Tom Chance.
Release Coordinator: Stephan Kulow.

Trademarks Notices. KDE, K Desktop Environment and KOffice are trademarks of KDE e.V. Incorporated. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are the property of their respective owners.


Press Contacts

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Fax: +46-563-540028
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Canada
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info-northamerica@kde.org
Oceania
Hamish Rodda
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Australia
Phone: (+61)402 346684
info-oceania@kde.org
South America
Helio Chissini de Castro
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Brazil
Phone: +55(41)262-0782 / +55(41)360-2670
info-southamerica@kde.org