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The last I heard Kubuntu 7.10 would have KDE3 in it, and they would release a new Kubuntu (maybe unsupported) as soon as KDE4.0 was released. Then when 8.04 comes out it would be supported.

KDE4 is actually in Ubuntu Feisty's Universe repository. If you want to see what packages are in the repositories, try this:
apt-cache search kde4

This only works if you are using Ubuntu 7.04.

Kubuntu often releases updates via additional repositories. Actually the do even have repos with current KDE4 builds.

Wouldn't be a bad publicity campaign. They would already know to dress as Konqi to help promote KDE4. They are clever enough to somehow make a catchy slogan to tie KDE in with halloween.

i actually dressed up as kandalf for halloween during 2.x releases and my son (a toddler at the time) dressed up as tux. heh. good times.

"i actually dressed up as kandalf... "

Who's kandalf?

Who's kandalf?

In KDE 2 the tip of day, was called "Kandalf's Useful Tips" containing a picture of a friendly wizard. The image was also used in wizard style dialogs.

http://www.kde.org/screenshots/images/large/kde2final_1.jpg

KDE hacker Ralf Nolden also used the name for a period, in his blog and I think on IRC and mail. From his writings aseigo sometimes sounds like a odd character, but I don't think he dressed up as Ralf :-)

Edited 2007-03-22 19:14

Gnome 2.20 will likely not be near as radical a change as KDE4.0 will be, since Gnome is just a point release.

For Amarok 2.0 at least, we are experimenting with a new context view based on a Qt QGraphicView. This has the potential to allow some really nice 2d effects.

They've changed it to require Qt 4.3, largely because of accessibility issues I think. Plus a few bug fixes, etc.

accessibility was one issue, yes. there are also some important steps forward in the networking and graphics systems that we need.

ah, and another important bit that i forgot: scripting. qtscript is shipping with 4.3 and will probably have some big implications for us.

Speaking of 4.3, I just noticed this list of new features:

http://labs.trolltech.com/blogs/2007/03/21/qt-430-beta-released/

which also links to the official page:

http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/whatsnew/whatsnew-qt43

note that most (and eventually all) our development related information is being moved to techbase.kde.org.

aRts is already gone as a dependency. it's not even part of trunk/ in svn anymore. phonon is where it's at for kde applications looking to play media, and the bulk of code in svn has already been ported (notable exceptions being kde3 apps in extragear)

The backend that powers this whole system has seen a lot of work, with more discussion with the GNOME folks on standardizing the mechanism so that applications using this progress reporting will run seamlessly on either desktop.

I like the sound of that.

Dolphin now has a tree view pane! I knew that if so many people were complaining about this, then it would be included in a hurry. Look what happens when you have a development team that actively seeks continuous feedback and truly cares about giving the users what they want.

This is where we start making that other OS look silly. We can design ambitious new "pillars" for our platform, too. Except we don't drop them in the middle of the cycle, delay the release by a couple years, and release something underwhelming. And when we create new APIs, our applications actually use them when the platform is launched. What a novel concept!

KDE4 is still several months away from its first release and probably over a year away from really hitting its stride, but there's plenty to be excited about. You can tell that the KDE community is excited, and this is the best possible sign when it comes to community projects. The devs know this is gunna kick ass, so they will take pride in their work and pour everything they can into it.

The timing is right and the foundations are solid. This is the free software desktop finally gone right.

Edited 2007-03-22 02:26

indeed, kde4 is going to kick asses and rock very hard

Lets not go that far. It will take a whole lot more than a nice desktop environment to unseat Microsoft.

But I think KDE 4 is looking good, especially Dolphin (new filemanager?), fonts, and icons. But Im a little disapointed about the theme though; it looks too much like KDE 3.5.x.

I want program windows to look and feel different; not necessarly like Vista or OSX but a change that significant.

Edited 2007-03-22 04:09

But Im a little disapointed about the theme though; it looks too much like KDE 3.5.x.

The theme is still in fact the KDE 3.5.x theme (ported, of course). We are waiting for the 4.0 Oxygen Widget style to stabilize before officially merging it into the main branch - just so that if apps are crashing, it's not as a result of the theme crashing. That'd be a PITA to debug

When the new widget style and window decorations get merged into the main tree, my screenshots will be updated to reflect them. I have a policy of only taking my screenshots with the current defaults, to avoid accusations of KDE vapourware should the style not be ready for KDE 4.0 or something similar. It should be ready for 4.0 though , just hedging my bets.

(The prototypes I've seen do look quite original, and quite nice, but are still very much a moving target... I'll write an article about it when it's ready to be shown off... if you can't wait, you can always build it from SVN sources )

Cheers

KDE4 will indeed be very good. Keep in mind, however, that the main "feature" of KDE4 is that it uses the new QT4. As much as it is hyped, it might actually be a let down to some who think that KDE4 will be the second coming of Jesus.

What will be really interesting is something along the lines of KDE 4.2 once all of the developers are using the real features of QT4 and have a decent understanding.

Some of the features in QT like the vector graphics rendering kick the crap out of (current) Cairo which Carl Worth and the other gnome / freedesktop folk work on.

KDE4 + compiz or beryl will be a much better DE than OS X + Vista compined (in my personal opinion). However, I will stick with gnome for now. Lots of room for fullscreen xterms.

KDE4 + compiz or beryl

I think you mean KDE4 with KWin, as you it's better to use a mature full function windowmanger than one created for eyecandy. Specially since KWin will deliver all the bling of compiz/beryl with it's new composite extension.

Getting all the functionality you are used to from KWin in addition to the new GL effects. Think of the fun you can have demonstrating to people, when you combine the Redmond or OpenLook window decoration with wobbly windows :-)

KDE4 + compiz or beryl will be a much better DE than OS X + Vista compined (in my personal opinion).

I suppose you're not well-versed in Leopard, eh? What is it with making unsubstantiated claims and then including an out by stating it is just your personal opinion?

No. KDE4+compiz or +beryl will not be a better DE experience than OS X. OS X will be 10.5 before KDE 4 is out and KDE 4 as it stands isn't competing against OS X, but Vista/XP.