Editing KDE (section)

== Origins ==
[[File:Matthias Ettrich LinuxTag 2005-06-23.jpg|thumb|[[Matthias Ettrich]], founder of KDE]]

KDE was founded in 1996 by [[Matthias Ettrich]], a student at the [[University of Tübingen]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=New Project: Kool Desktop Environment. Programmers wanted! |url=https://groups.google.com/g/de.comp.os.linux.misc/c/SDbiV3Iat_s/m/zv_D_2ctS8sJ?pli=1 |access-date=2022-01-21 |website=groups.google.com |archive-date=21 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121235738/https://groups.google.com/g/de.comp.os.linux.misc/c/SDbiV3Iat_s/m/zv_D_2ctS8sJ?pli=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> At the time, he was troubled by certain aspects of the [[Unix]] desktop. Among his concerns was that none of the applications looked or behaved alike. In his opinion, desktop applications of the time were too complicated for end users. In order to solve the issue, he proposed the creation of a desktop environment in which users could expect the applications to be consistent and easy to use. His initial [[Usenet]] post spurred significant interest, and the KDE project was born.<ref name="New Project: Kool Desktop Environment (KDE)">{{cite newsgroup
 |title        = New Project: Kool Desktop Environment (KDE)
 |url          = http://groups.google.com/group/de.comp.os.linux.misc/msg/cb4b2d67ffc3ffce
 |first        = Matthias
 |last         = Ettrich
 |newsgroup    = de.comp.os.linux.misc
 |message-id   = 53tkvv$b4j@newsserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de
 |date         = 14 October 1996
 |access-date  = 2010-12-04
 |archive-date = 30 May 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130530054434/http://groups.google.com/group/de.comp.os.linux.misc/msg/cb4b2d67ffc3ffce
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

The name ''KDE'' was intended as a wordplay on the existing [[Common Desktop Environment]], available for [[Unix|Unix systems]].<ref>{{cite web |date=6 February 2023 |title=KDE Plasma: Full Featured Desktop That's Surprisingly Easy on Resources |url=https://fossforce.com/2023/02/kde-plasma-full-featured-desktop-thats-surprisingly-easy-on-resources |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104040513/https://fossforce.com/2023/02/kde-plasma-full-featured-desktop-thats-surprisingly-easy-on-resources/ |archive-date=4 January 2024 |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Foss Force}}</ref> CDE was an [[X Window System|X11-based]] user environment jointly developed by HP, IBM, and Sun through the [[X/Open]] consortium, with an interface and productivity tools based on the [[Motif (software)|Motif]] graphical [[widget toolkit]]. It was supposed to be an intuitively easy-to-use desktop computer environment.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://bubl.ac.uk/ARCHIVE/subject/computing/misc/coseup6.htm
|title=COSE Update FYI |access-date=2010-11-06
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207160207/http://bubl.ac.uk/ARCHIVE/subject/computing/misc/coseup6.htm
|archive-date=2012-02-07}}</ref> The ''K'' was originally suggested to stand for "[[wikt:kool|Kool]]", but it was quickly decided that the ''K'' should stand for nothing in particular. Therefore, the ''KDE'' initialism expanded to ''"K Desktop Environment"'' before it was dropped altogether in favor of simply ''KDE'' in a rebranding in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dot.kde.org/2009/11/24/repositioning-kde-brand |title=Repositioning the KDE Brand |date=24 November 2009}}</ref>

In the beginning Matthias Ettrich chose to use [[Trolltech]]'s Qt framework for the KDE project.<ref>
{{cite web |date=August 2003 |title=history of the KDE project |url=http://events.kde.org/info/kastle/presentations/kastle-history/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031170448/http://events.kde.org/info/kastle/presentations/kastle-history/index.html |archive-date=2010-10-31 |access-date=2010-12-02}}
</ref> Other programmers quickly started developing KDE/Qt applications, and by early 1997, a few applications were being released. On 12 July 1998 the first version of the desktop environment, called KDE 1.0, was released. The original [[GNU General Public License]]d version of this toolkit only existed for platforms that used the [[X11]] display server, but as of the release of Qt 4, [[GNU Lesser General Public License]]d versions are available for more platforms. This allowed KDE software based on Qt 4 or newer versions to be distributed to Microsoft Windows and OS X.<ref>{{cite news |last=Paul |first=Ryan |date=January 23, 2008 |title=KDE goes cross-platform with Windows, Mac OS X support |work=Ars Technica |url=https://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080123-kde-goes-cross-platform-with-windows-mac-os-x-support.html |access-date=2010-12-04 |archive-date=21 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090121130639/http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080123-kde-goes-cross-platform-with-windows-mac-os-x-support.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The KDE Marketing Team announced a [[rebranding]] of the KDE project components on 24 November 2009. Motivated by the perceived shift in objectives, the rebranding focused on emphasizing both the community of software creators and the various tools supplied by the KDE, rather than just the desktop environment. KDE 4 was split into [[KDE Plasma 4|KDE Plasma Workspaces]], [[KDE Applications]], and [[KDE Frameworks]] ([[KDE Platform 4]] at the time), bundled as [[KDE Software Compilation 4]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Jarvis |first=Stuart |date=2009-11-24 |title=Repositioning the KDE Brand |publisher=KDE |url=http://dot.kde.org/2009/11/24/repositioning-kde-brand |access-date=2010-11-13 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203235619/https://dot.kde.org/2009/11/24/repositioning-kde-brand |url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2009, the name ''KDE'' no longer stands for ''K Desktop Environment'', but for the community that produces the software.<ref>{{cite news |last=Poortvliet |first=Jos |date=2009-11-24 |title=Finally: rebranding KDE |url=https://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2009/11/finally-rebranding-kde.html |access-date=2023-06-07 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404051755/https://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2009/11/finally-rebranding-kde.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Software releases ===
[[File:KDE 1.0.png|thumb|K Desktop Environment 1.0]]
[[File:KDE_4.png|thumb|KDE Software Compilation 4]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Version
!Date
!Information
|-
!
|14 October 1996
|KDE development announced<ref name=":1"/>
|-
| style="background:#DCDCDC" |'''[[K Desktop Environment 1]]'''
|12 July 1998
|
|-
| style="background:#DCDCDC" |'''[[K Desktop Environment 2]]'''
|23 October 2000
|
|-
| style="background:#DCDCDC" |'''[[K Desktop Environment 3]]'''
|3 April 2002
|
|-
| style="background:#DCDCDC" |'''[[KDE Software Compilation 4]]'''
|11 January 2008
|
|-
|'''[[KDE Plasma 5]]'''
|15 July 2014
|former KDE/KDE SC split into KDE Plasma, KDE Frameworks and KDE Applications
|-
|'''[[KDE Plasma 6]]'''
|28 February 2024 
|Public release<ref>{{cite web |last1=Das |first1=Ankush |last2=Rudra |first2=Sourav |date=28 February 2024 |title=KDE Plasma 6: The Big Release is Here! |url=https://news.itsfoss.com/kde-plasma-6/ |access-date=3 March 2024 |website=It's FOSS News |language=en}}</ref>
|}