The Nové Hrady program committee is proud to announce the schedule for the conference program of the KDE Contributor Conference 2003. From now on only minor changes are expected to happen. Conference registration for all attendees is still possible until 29th July. Companies are invited to support KDE and the conference with their attendance.

Have you ever wondered what the KDE developers were thinking? Have you ever wondered what motivates or annoys KDE developers? It was these questions that prompted the development of http://www.kdedevelopers.org/, an online weblog for KDE developers.

As always, the KDE Team participated in this year's LinuxTag which took place in Karlsruhe, Germany. LinuxTag is a platform for Free Software projects and Linux related companies with an exhibition area and a wide range of talks. With more than 19,500 visitors, this year's LinuxTag has become the largest Linux event in the world. Even away from the KDE booth, there was a lot of KDE
stuff to see. (Update: Pictures of KDE/GNOME dinner added.)

I finally got to meet Wil Wheaton of Star Trek TNG fame. Wil is a great guy, a very good writer and an open source advocate we can all be proud to have on our side.

The KDE Project will be present at LinuxTag 2003, the largest Linux and Open Source exhibition in Europe, being held in Karlsruhe, Germany from July 10-13 2003. The KDE Project's primary focus this year will be the latest stable
KDE release, KDE 3.1.2, though KDE volunteers will also demonstrate

Last week I launched a call for help when the KDE booth at the LinuxUser & Developer Expo 2003 dropped in my lap. I have written a report of the events leading up to and happening at the expo. It was a good expo, and KDE fared well there. Expect more pictures to be online soon.

Recently it came to my attention that Chris Howells could not make the expo date next week to run the KDE booth, and I have taken over trying to sort something out in time so KDE is properly represented.

For those of you who have been anxious: You can now register for the Nove Hrady conference ("Kastle"). The Kastle info pages have been updated to contain more details about arrival, departure and accommodation. Remember that places are limited, so better hurry! Active contributors do of course have precedence.

Helio Chissini de Castro of Conectiva recently gave a KDE speech at Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and was kind enough to write up his experiences for the rest of us. In recent years, Rio Grande do Sul has become a GNU and consequently GNOME stronghold, so prepare yourself for an entertaining if not graphic read!

It is with sorrow that I have to inform you of the death of Alan Eldridge this weekend.
Alan, or 'alane' as he was known within the Open Source community, was a core member of the team which packages KDE for FreeBSD, and a respected member of the Open Source community outside of KDE.