KDE

KDE is a community that produces free software, including a desktop environment called KDE Plasma for operating systems based on Linux or UNIX. This replaces the console, which is simply a black screen with text on it. KDE Plasma is a popular piece of software for users of Linux and UNIX.

K Desktop Environment

A screenshot of KDE Plasma 5.16, showing the default desktop, with KDE System Settings and Kickoff Menu.
Developer(s)	The KDE Team
Stable release	5.16 / 6 June 2019[1]
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Desktop environment
License	GNU General Public License and others
Website	www.kde.org

Plasma runs on top of the X Window System, which runs on top of any UNIX-like operating systems like Linux and Mac OS X. Since KDE SC 4.0, many KDE programs also run on Microsoft Windows.

KDE releases

The following table lists when each version of KDE was released.

Timeline of when KDE was released.
Date	Release
KDE 1
14 October 1996	Project announced by Matthias Ettrich[2]
12 July 1998	KDE 1.0 released[3]
6 February 1999	KDE 1.1 released[4]
KDE 2
23 October 2000	KDE 2.0 released[5]
26 February 2001	KDE 2.1 released[6]
15 August 2001	KDE 2.2 released[7]
KDE 3
3 April 2002	KDE 3.0 released[8]
28 January 2003	KDE 3.1 released[9]
3 February 2004	KDE 3.2 released[10]
19 August 2004	KDE 3.3 released[11]
16 March 2005	KDE 3.4 released[12]
29 November 2005	KDE 3.5 released[13]
KDE 4
11 January 2008	KDE 4.0 released[14]
29 July 2008	KDE 4.1 released[15]
27 January 2009	KDE 4.2 released[16]
4 August 2009	KDE 4.3 released[17]
9 February 2010	KDE 4.4 released[18]

Applications

The Kontact personal information manager and Konqueror file manager/web browser running on KDE 3.5.

There are several major applications for KDE. These include:

• Amarok - Music player
• K3b - CD burner
• Kate - Text editor
• KDevelop - A program for making software
• Konsole - Terminal emulator
• Kontact - Personal information manager that has an e-mail client, a news client, a feed aggregator, To-do lists and more.
• Kopete - Instant messaging client
• Konqueror - File manager and web browser
• KOffice - Office suite
• Dolphin - File manager