I’m looking forward to KDE 4.
I have really started to look forward to the release of KDE 4. For a number of years now I have used KDE as my primary desktop. My main reasons for using it are that it is very well integrated, and it otherwise is of a very high quality. I haven’t performed any formal benchmarking, but I do think it is more responsive than GNOME. One study have indicated that KDE actually uses less memory than GNOME in many cases. Perhaps this extends to its need for CPU resources, as well.
Regardless, I am here today to talk about KDE 4. More specifically, I just read an interview with KDE contributor Aaron Seigo. The first part of the interview asks him about his role with the project, but I’m more interested in what he has to say about KDE 4.
One of the things that I’m really excited about is the jump to Qt 4. As a user of KDE 3.x, I have come to really respect what Trolltech managed to put together for Qt 3. It is a top-notch framework and toolkit. I have always found it to be a very responsive and light framework, but while also offering all the features that I, as a user, have wanted. The improvements of Qt 4 sound to me like they will make KDE a very enjoyable system to use. The updated graphics subsystem of Qt 4 is no doubt a major asset. And the improved multithreading is very important too, with many systems today having multiple CPU cores.
I was most intrigued to read how KDE 4 will be shipping at least one Ruby and/or Python application! Both languages are superb for rapidly developing and evolving applications, and provide an excellent alternative to C++. Better support for them will no doubt allow developers to quickly and painlessly create some amazing applications that will really show off the strength of KDE.
The native ports to Windows and Mac OS X will be major improvements, I think. This opens up a whole new world, not just for current KDE users, but also for users of a system like Windows who cannot currently take advantage of all the great benefits that KDE has to offer. Windows users may be able to use the Konqueror web browser as an alternative to Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer, for instance.
It sounds like there is still much work to be done before KDE 4 is ready for release. But from reading that interview, it sounds like progress is really being made. As a current KDE 3.5 user, I eagerly await the release of KDE 4! It has a lot of potential to become a great desktop environment for many people.