Touted as a powerful, yet easy-to-use Internet-enabled desktop, KDE 2.2.1 lives up to all expectations. Despite appearances, version 2.2.1 is much more than a minor dot iteration of its previous manifestation, KDE 2.1. Numerous bug fixes have been incorporated into the product, and many enhancements have been made. Furthermore, the product also includes several new and redesigned programs, including Kate, a text editor.
We tested version KDE version 2.2, and also the KDE 2.2.1 update. We obtained binary RPMs for KDE 2.2 via FTP for our Red Hat 7.1 system; the total distribution was composed of almost 130 files totalling 180M. The 2.2.1 update--which essentially improves documentation, translations and performance--consisted of 24 files totalling an additional 55M. During installation we encountered some dependency conflicts, but most were unrelated to KDE and easy to resolve. Even though the distribution size is somewhat large, administrators can still automate the process of installing or updating KDE automatically on networked Linux workstations; a few shell scripts--for downloading the binaries and installing them on remote computers--is all that's needed.
User-friendly desktop
The desktop environment of KDE 2.2.1 looks almost identical to previous versions. Managers of Windows systems seeking to make a transition from the Microsoft platform to Linux should find the KDE environment quite accommodating. The KDE taskbar includes an applications menu similar to Windows' Start menu; also, like Windows, KDE includes a comprehensive Control Panel that gives control over almost all desktop environment settings.
KDE integrates browser technology to create a user-friendly desktop. The Konqueror browser supports virtually all Internet standards, including Java, JavaScript, CSS 1 and 2, SSL, XML, and HTML 4.0. Furthermore, it supports several Netscape and ActiveX plug-ins (including Shockwave). Numerous configuration options are available to change the look and feel of applications; for example, when invoked as a file manager, Konqueror can be configured to open each directory in a new browser window.
Features
KDE includes a good number of productivity apps, including the KOffice suite, which includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and other applications. Another program, KPilot, lets you synchronise information between KDE applications and a Palm-based PDAs.
KDE's numerous network utilities and applications give Internet communication and connectivity equivalent to late iterations of Windows operating systems. For instance, Kppp is an Internet connection manager that can be used to establish a dialup connection, KMail is an email client that supports both IMAP and POP3, and KNode is a Usenet newsreader.
Also included is a good selection of system administration tools. A comprehensive user management program, KUser, lets you create, modify, and delete user logins on multi-user Linux systems. KCron provides similar functionality for managing automated background tasks. And KDE System Guard, like Windows' Task Manager, lets you view current tasks and kill problem applications. And since KDE is merely running on top of the X Window System, you can perform remote administration of any KDE-enabled system by redirecting application output to another X server on the network. KDE also features numerous multimedia apps such as KDE Media Player (which supports WAV and MP3 audio formats) and Kscd, a graphical CD player.
Bottom Line
KDE is available in binary form for most versions of Linux and Unix, and its feature set and user-friendly look and feel will help facilitate the migration of Windows users to a Linux-based desktop environment. Naturally, the primary downfall of deploying KDE is a lack of mature, enterprise-level Linux productivity apps, especially those that can properly import documents in Microsoft Office format. In deciding whether to implement the KDE desktop, it's essential that IT managers evaluate users' needs and abilities, and take stock of available productivity software that's compatible with the KDE environment.
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