I was recently hired by SuSE to focus on optimizing KDE, and as part of my work, I have written an analysis of KDE memory usage based on Waldo Bastian's previous paper concerning GNU/Linux linker issues and KDE startup-performance. As it turns out, the linker issues examined by Waldo do indeed have an effect on the memory usage of C++ applications compiled and linked under GNU/Linux.
The KDE Project has just released KDE 2.2.1. Though a week and a few days late, I am happy to report that the delay made this (perhaps the last stable release of the KDE 2 series) better. Read the announcement or go straight to the source. Please note that some of the packages -- RedHat and Yellow Dog spring to mind -- were uploaded late and may take some time to sync to the mirrors.
Rob Valliere has written a success story in which he (partially) converted a small office (25 computers) from a Windows-only environment to a mixed Windows-Linux/KDE environment.
Klaus Stärk has
submitted an interview he recently conducted with
Charles Samuels about
Noatun. Noatun is KDE's powerful multimedia (video/audio)
player. Klaus tells us that Noatun will be the "Application of the
Month October 2001" on the German
KDE-webpage, so the interview will be translated into German at that time.
Frank was the first of many to write
in to tell us that IBM
developerWorks has
announced the winners of the KDE theme
contest. The top prize (along with a $3,000 donation) goes to Matthias
Fenner of Germany for the
ZDNet has published a review of KOfficeTM.
Titled "KOffice falls short of Microsoft Office standard: Updated Linux
alternative to Office not ready for corporate big leagues", the lengthy
review takes a close and, perhaps surprisingly, fair look at the strengths
and weaknesses of KOffice. While generally lauding KOffice, its design,
I have written a small article that demonstrates the use of KParts. You can find the article here. The tutorial demonstrates the ease with which KParts can be embedded in applications, and discusses their use in KOffice. This article should also be a great way for developers to get up to speed with this powerful KDE technology.
In the September 2001 issue of Linux Magazine, Konqueror, the KDE all-in-one wunder kind, has been awarded the Tuxie for Best Web Browser as part of the 2001 Editors' Choice Awards (the Tuxies).
Waldo Bastian, the KDE 2.x release coordinator, has announced that KDE
2.2.1 was packaged as a tarball yesterday and will be officially released on September 17, 2001. Those
Some time ago, Bowie J. Poag wrote in with a link to the System 26 GUI Component Stockpile, a large public repository of raw materials such as individual sounds (clicks, beeps, bells and whistles) and images (buttons, textures, pixmaps, etc) specifically geared for use within GUIs. This may to be a good place to start if one were building a new KDE theme.