From its humble beginnings as a Unix type OS desktop package, KDE (K Desktop Environment) is now a cross platform application which will run on Linux, Unix, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS and even MS Windows.
Mainly used as the main desktop on Linux systems such as OpenSUSE, Mandriva and Kubuntu.
This is just a light look at the evolution of KDE, mainly pictorial and a few comments thrown in.
KDE 1
July 1998
With the release of KDE1, Linux now had a functional desktop to complete with MS. By today's standards you would sat it is very basic, but it did the job well.
KDE 2
October 2000
KDE2 saw improvements, but it was not until we saw KDE3 that the layout became a lot slicker.
KDE 3
KDE 3.2
KDE 3.4
KDE 3.5
April 2002
From the first release of KDE3 to the final version in 2008 KDE3.5.10 saw the greatest changes. KDE3 was still being developed when the first release of KDE4 came along.
KDE 4.1
January 2008
This was a very different environment to anything else the KDE team had release before.
The first KDE4 saw a new look and feel with no task bar and the option to position any of the normal desktop functions anywhere on the desktop. I must admit that the early versions of KDE4 were very unstable.
KDE 4.5 Plasma Desktop
KDE 4.5 Netbook Desktop
The KDE team have now had 2 years get it right. Now with KDE4.5 being the stable version and KDE4.6 beta also being developed. It now has a slick desktop to match anything MS Windows7 can do. With its plasma desktop or netbook desktop, widgets, glass like window frames and unlimited amounts of desktop features, KDE has come a long way.
My desktop KDE 4.5
My desktop KDE 4.6 beta Glass frames.
I still do to this day get very frustrated with KDE, but this is due to the fact that I run the development version all the time, which can be rather unstable.
Why not give it a try and you will be surprised.
ColinH
Nice overview. Thanks for this.
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