Kallecarl 

KDE will have an exhibit in the Expo at the upcoming LISA (Large Installation System Administration) Conference. The full conference takes place November 8 ‒ 13 in Washington D.C. The Expo is open on the 11th and 12th. There is no charge to attend the Expo.

We are raising money to support KDE sprints. People have asked legitimate questions about those funds—who gets the money? Who benefits?

To start with, KDE sprints are intensive sessions centered around coding. They take place in person over several days, during which time skillful developers eat, drink and sleep code. There are breaks to refresh and gain perspective, but mostly sprints involve hard, focused work. All of this developer time and effort is unpaid. However travel expenses for some developers are covered by KDE. KDE is a frugal organization with comparatively low administrative costs, and only one paid person who works part time. So the money donated for sprints goes to cover actual expenses. Who gets the money? Almost all of it goes to transportation companies.

A little history

Email still going strong

Despite the rise of social networks and messaging apps, email continues to be the dominant mode of written electronic communication. Over the next few years, email use will continue to grow in the business world and decrease by less than 4% each year for consumers. The average business worker will have to deal with 140 emails a day by 2018, up from 120 emails a day now. (Thanks to theconversation.com)

Security and privacy more important than ever

Kolab Now

Kolab Now provides enterprise-class Kolab capabilities and support for individuals and smaller groups. The secure email and collaboration services are based in Switzerland. Individual data is "protected by a unique combination of terms of service, laws, operational principles and technology. Kolab Now will never put you under surveillance to sell your data or profile and there will be no advertisements. Enjoy the convenience of the Cloud without compromising freedom and openness." (from the Kolab Now website)

KDE was one of about 50 exhibitors at the LISA (Large Installation System Administration) Conference November 12th and 13th in Seattle. The expo was part of the week-long conference for system administrators that has been held annually since 1986. Expo participants included big name tech companies and smaller niche organizations offering products and services to this audience of professional technical people. As we discovered, KDE is well known among this audience.

There will be a KDE exhibit at the upcoming LISA (Large Installation System Administration) Conference. The full conference takes place November 9 ‒ 14 in Seattle; the expo is open on the 12th and 13th. There is no charge to attend the expo.

Sponsors receive benefits beyond the feel-good rewards of supporting a worthy cause. They have the opportunity to:

Cornelius Schumacher
photo by Michal Kubeček

Here are glimpses of Cornelius that most of us have never seen. They give a sense of what has made him a successful leader of KDE for several years.

Sascha Meinrath
photo from fisl quinze (Fórum Internacional do Software Livre) CC-BY-SA

For people want to know more about you Tech policy and political strategy work can often be both high-impact and high-stress. To relax, I like to cook -- not the sort of "oh hey, I can cook a few dishes o.k." cooking -- more, "you should open a gourmet restaurant". For the past 8 years, I've been hosting an epicurean feast called "Basque" (long story), which usually brings together 1-5 dozen people for 2-4 dozen courses. We've done everything from cooking with dangerous chemicals to building a KitchenAid-powered lamb rotisserie.

As was the case when KDE started, community-developed, freedom-oriented technology is necessary to break the stranglehold of large companies that are more committed to managers and investors than to users. But this won’t be easy and it can’t be left to a few people. The entire KDE Community has a stake in the outcome. For that matter, this should be a concern to anyone who develops free and open software, anyone who uses it, anyone who benefits from it. And that includes just about everyone using technology today.

The KDE Community is looking for a host for Akademy 2014.

Akademy is the annual gathering of the KDE Community, one of the largest in the world of Free and Open Source Software. At Akademy, KDE people gather to exchange development ideas, plan for the future, and discuss other important issues. It is an extraordinary occasion for creativity, enthusiasm, commitment, close working relationships, innovation and just plain hard work.

Akademy 2013 in Bilbao, the Basque Country, Spain wrapped up on Friday, 19 July. According to one long-time KDE contributor, it was "A most awesome event."

After the presentations during the first two days of Akademy, people moved into action. Birds of a Feather sessions and workshops provided the opportunity to discuss, plan and hack. Being Akademy, there was also time away from work for relaxation and camaraderie. Akademy attendees, if there is anything missing, please add in comments.

Akademy 2013 in Bilbao finished its first day in grand style with a party and great music. Day Two had another impressive line-up of talks. Day Two official business wrapped up with sponsor presentations and the Akademy awards.

The main event on the KDE Calendar has begun. Akademy 2013 in Bilbao, the Basque Country, Spain is underway.

Are you attending Akademy 2013 in Bilbao? Do you want to get something special out of your Akademy experience?

Be a volunteer. The Akademy Team needs motivated people who are passionate about Free and Open Software, especially KDE, one of the foremost communities of any kind in the world. There is a variety of tasks to fit with diverse interests and skills.

Keynote at Qt Dev Days 2012 Silicon Valley (photo by ICS)

Background

Qt Developer Days 2012 Silicon Valley was an opportunity to show the strong relationship between Qt and KDE, the interrelated structures of Qt 5 and KDE Frameworks 5, and the substantial value that KDE brings to the Qt ecosystem.

KDE has released the third stable version of Plasma Active, KDE's device-independent mobile user experience. The Plasma Active user interface is touch-friendly and works well across a range of devices. It is designed for personalized productivity, a complete mobile experience right from the first start-up.

“From the hacking rooms, we hear the whistle of the train as it travels up and down the Matter Valley. Most of us arrived on that train, and soon will be leaving. Another amazing mass KDE sprint is coming to an end, and again a lot has been accomplished.”

Randa Planning   photo by Valorie Zimmerman

Each of the project teams—Accessibility (a11y), Plasma, KDE Edu and Multimedia—have provided a synopsis of their accomplishments below. The actual results of their work will appear in future versions of KDE software.

Featuring KDE and Alexandra

The Conference

The general themes were:

Will Schroeder Keynote

Will Schroeder is the CEO of Kitware Inc., a company that builds open source scientific software that also depends on open source. He suggested that open source is the most effective way to get things done through agile, collaborative innovation.

Akademy is more than inspiring talks. It's also a place to plan, collaborate and get a lot of work done in BoFs and workshops.

This year, we have two special workshops that you won't want to miss. These events alone make Akademy 2012 well worth attending. To attend please register for free.

The KDE Community prizes innovation and creativity. Akademy Workshops and BoFs offer space for possibility that is hard to find anywhere else. Akademy 2012 Tallinn is the place to be if you want to make a difference working with enthusiastic, supportive people.

More details and sign up instructions are available at the Akademy 2012 site on the Call for Volunteers Page.

Akademy—the annual world summit of the KDE Community—will take place from 30 June to 6 July in Tallinn, Estonia. 10 years of Akademy; 15 years of KDE!

Akademy—the annual world summit of the KDE Community—will take place from 30 June to 6 July in Tallinn, Estonia. This 10th edition of the KDE community conference will celebrate 15 years of KDE!

Plasma Active Two has been released. In just two months, the Plasma Active development team has made significant improvements over Plasma Active One. The release announcement has more information, including a video and sites for downloading and installation instructions.

Plasma Active and the Mer OS have been installed successfully on the ARCHOS G9 tablet.

Plasma Active & Mer on ARCHOS tablet

Plasma Active is innovative technology for a smarter mobile user experience—the latest member of the Plasma Workspaces family from KDE. The touchscreen interface is more than just an application launcher. Rather than the commonplace grid of applications, an Activity view shows a single project, task or idea, gathering all related documents, people, web sites, media and widgets. By creating multiple Activities, a mobile device can be customized to respond effectively as the user moves between contexts. Plasma Active is based on Qt and KDE technology, enabling quick and efficient development of touchscreen user experiences.

Today marks a major milestone for KDE Plasma Workspaces. Plasma Active One has been released, primarily for tablet computers. It is the latest expression of the Plasma concept, following Plasma Desktop and Plasma Netbook. In the KDE tradition, Plasma Active One is designed for the best User Experience—for people on the move and engaged in many activities.

On October 14, 1996, Matthias Ettrich posted a message to Usenet (comp.os.linux.misc), announcing "Programmers wanted!" for a "New Project: Kool Desktop Environment (KDE)". Now, 15 years later, Matthias’s dream of a "GUI for an ENDUSER" has been fully realized. And more. Sometime in the next 2 weeks, Plasma Active One will be released, extending Matthias's plan for a "modern interface" with a "common look & feel" to a range of enduser devices from desktop to mobile. KDE has grown beyond a Linux Desktop GUI to a global community of people. But it still has the same innovative spirit and a commitment to serving users of Free and Open Source Software.

Nick Richards

In this last in the series of interviews with Keynote speakers at the Desktop Summit, starting in Berlin in just a few weeks, meet Nick Richards.

The Desktop Summit is only 2 weeks away. Excitement builds!

The program consists of 3 days of talks, followed by 4 days of workshops and BoFs. In these sessions, Free Desktop contributors and enthusiasts gather face-to-face to discuss and work on current topics.

Toulouse, 4.6 Release

There is a wiki page for the 4.7 parties. If you want to organize something, please add it there soon and start getting the word out. The release is planned for Wednesday, July 27th. This is a great cause for celebration.

Dirk Hohndel

Dirk Hohndel will be the opening keynote speaker at this summer's Desktop Summit in Berlin, 6th - 12th August.

Claire Rowland

Claire Rowland, user experience guru, will be a featured keynote speaker at this summer's Desktop Summit 2011 in Berlin.