Looking for some hot new O.S. action but skeptical of the volcabularific new HUD interface being introduced to Ubuntu? That's the open-sourced beauty of Linux -- there are plenty of flavors available for the picky types out there. And now there's a new one, or rather, a new update of an old hand. KDE 4.8 has hit the Web, complete with a host of fresh features and abilities.
The Windows Switcher found in Plasma Workspaces has been tweaked to include six possible layouts, the KDE Power Management System Settings received an overhaul, and as usual, stability has been increased and bugs squashed with wild abandon. New touch-screen friendly features have begun being added to KDE Platform 4.8 for the pinch-and-zoom fans in the House That Linus Built. A bevy of KDE Applications also nabbed a spit-shine, most notably the Dolphin file manager, which has a new display engine that makes digging around a hard drive speedier than ever before.
Sound good? Check out the official announcement for more details about all the new stuff.
Comments are closed on this article
bpstone
January 26, 2012 at 6:01pm
Microsoft or Apple did not invent the wheel; even if the companies own the patent to it. Most consumer desktops or laptops in the western hemisphere come with an OEM Windows licensed OS pre-installed. Do you think that was just by chance as with the fact that many are also loaded with bloatware? I did not think so.
There are slews of different distributions to choose from. You could change the source code, improve upon it, and then spread the finished product. Try doing that with a closed source OS to see where it lands you. In the professional world we use Unix-based systems like that of Linux, OSX and etc.
Computer_Repair...
January 26, 2012 at 1:55pm
Ok, so maybe it's just me, but is Linux beginning to transform in "Mac-ix"?
First it's Gnome 3 and Ubuntu's Launcher. Deja Vu anyone? The Macintosh "Dock". And there's the whole "Ubuntu Software Centre" which looks a lot like the App Store in OSX Lion. Coincidence? Conspiracy? LOL, I don't know, but I guess whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing, it's all subjective. With the advent of the touchscreen interface, I can see this trend continuing, but it makes you wonder if it will eventually cripple the desktop user's operating system.
I think, with OSX Lion, Apple got it right. They left the old GUI functionality (basically) alone, and just added new features that you can optionally use. Sure, they're there, and they're handy, but if you don't like them you don't have to use them. I think that's the way of the future. Have some type of fallback interface available. /rant
lien_meat
January 26, 2012 at 4:00pm
Well, the Ubuntu-leader Mark Shuttleworth did name OSX the platform to beat, so it's not too much surprise that a lot of ideas are being copied from that camp. However, I will say, the software center was around before OSX Lion launched, I think, and if not, there were plenty of package managers that felt very much like an app store before anyway.
I will agree with you that ubuntu took the wrong path and shook things up a bit too much by making Unity the default when, to be honest, it wasn't ready. Gnome 3 I think is a bit better, honestly, but I still preferred good old gnome2. Kde I'd run more, but there are always tons of little things that never work correctly with KDE (on any distro), despite the overall workflow being more my style. I will stress though, I like KDE and gnome3 better than window's UI, and I find OSX's UI too limiting for my tastes (which is also an issue with gnome3, but that is changing fast).
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