Google Summer of Code 2013 (GSoC) brought fifty budding new shoots and branches to the mighty KDE family tree, and the canopy of warmth and love offered by the community helped them blossom and bloom in the three months of the program. With a few snips, a little trimming and pruning, they have learned, innovated, created and contributed to one of the largest free and open source communities in the world, and have developed software that will touch many people around the world.

The KDE Community makes software; most of the people in the Community are software developers. However, this large and extensive community includes more than just the people who write software. Among the many non-technical contributors there are translators, bug finders and fixers, writers, promoters, and those who provide user support. User support is critical to KDE's success, because it provides a way for technical issues to be properly reported to people who can do something about them.

KO GmbH today presents Krita Gemini for Windows 8. Krita Gemini is a fusion between Krita Sketch and Krita Desktop: Krita Gemini switches seamlessly between the full-featured desktop/laptop user interface and the sketch interface, which is optimized for tablets.

Inge Wallin, COO at KO GmbH explained: "The open development process usually employed by KO and supported by Intel allows early community feedback as well as access to the vast repository of code and knowledge in the KDE community, shortening the development cycle and improving results"

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.

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.

This Akademy keynote talk is based on Jolla and their Sailfish OS. It will cover project history, software architecture and collaboration between Jolla and various open source projects such as Qt, Mer, and Nemo Mobile. It will address the user interface concepts used in Sailfish OS and highlight the benefits of using Qt Quick to build the user experience in Sailfish OS.

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.

The announcement of the students accepted for Google Summer of Code (GSoC) and Outreach Program for Women (OPW) 2013 opens a new chapter in KDE contribution. KDE has participated in GSoC since its first season in 2005. Every year is special and exciting for both the students and the KDE Community.