GNOME 3.12, GNOME 3.11.5, KDE Frameworks 5 Alpha, Kubuntu 14.04 Alpha 2, Kubuntu Derivatives, Desktop Poll
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-18 09:54:35 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-18 09:57:14 UTC
Summary: News about desktop environments and frameworks for GNU/Linux
GNOME
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We are getting closer to the first Beta release of the upcoming GNOME 3.12 desktop environment, so I thought that it would be a very good idea to drop here some of the major features that will be implemented in this release of GNOME.
Therefore, GNOME 3.12 will be the first release to fully support the modern Wayland display server, as well as the first release with a fully working version of the GNOME Software app that was introduced in GNOME 3.10 as a preview.
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The GNOME Project has released a new milestone version of the package that contains the default icon theme and wallpapers for the upcoming and highly anticipated GNOME 3.12 desktop environment.
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The GNOME Project, through Matthias Clasen, has announced that the fifth milestone of the upcoming and highly anticipated GNOME 3.12 desktop environment is now available for testing, featuring many updated applications, bugfixes, and updated translations.
KDE
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KDE Frameworks 5 entered alpha stage on 14th this month. The Frameworks 5 is the foundation for the next generation KDE interface. The tech preview of Frameworks 5 was released a month back. The next alpha is scheduled to be released on March 1st.
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Today KDE released the first alpha of Frameworks 5, part of a series of releases leading up to the final version planned for June 2014. This release includes progress since the Frameworks 5 Tech Preview in the beginning of this year.
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You can also access the program here, with links to the awesome set of slides used during the presentations at DevDays 2013.
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A recent post by Phoronix predicted that Nepomuk would stop being supported and be obsolete by this year. The article claimed, “It appears there isn’t much of a future left to KDE‘s Nepomuk framework that was developed at a cost of 17 million Euros… It’s going to be replaced going forward in the KDE land.”
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The Kubuntu 14.04 Alpha 2 release introduces KDE Applications 4.12.1, an improved version of the buggy USB Creator application, Mozilla Firefox 25, on-demand installation for Gwenview’s plugins, and automatic crash reporting.
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After it came out some months ago that Canonical was trying to charge Linux Mint for its usage of Ubuntu as a base for the Linux distribution, the lead Kubuntu developer has made it clear that anyone is free to base off their KDE-focused Ubuntu distribution without fear of being charged.
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According to the results of our FOSS Force Desktop Poll, our readers prefer KDE over any other desktop environment by a wide margin. In fact, all other desktops were practically left at the gate.
The poll accompanied Ken Starks’ article Those Krazy Kids & KDE, which talked about the preference his Reglue kids express for the KDE desktop. Because Starks’ article focused on KDE, GNOME 3 and Cinnamon, we focused our poll on those same three desktops. However, we included an “Other” category, under which another desktop could be entered. The poll asked the question, “Which desktop environment do you prefer?”
Hawaii
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The Enlightenment Wayland Compositor wasn't the only Wayland desktop project seeing attention at FOSDEM earlier this month, but the Qt5-based Hawaii desktop also received some stage time.
Enlightenment
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It's that time again! Stefan is off this week testing mountain robustness, so I've been pressed into service as the temporary pre-release release manager for this pre-release release.
Recent Techrights' Posts
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- Windows is perishing
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- Good thing that Nadella is not racist!
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- The Few Slopfarms We Saw Today
- The sentiment has changed a lot
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- This will become an accessibility problem
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- This reinforces the notion that justice is only for those who can afford it
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- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Richard Stallman in the United States - Part II - "Haters Gonna Hate"
- we shall carry on with this series at the right pace
- Typical! Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Tells Victims of Fraud to Wait 10 Weeks
- justice delayed is justice denied
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- Microsoft is trying to fake "demand"
- Slides Shown a Week Ago by the EPO's Staff Committee Ahead of the Second Very Large Strike
- This coming weekend we'll drop a 'bombshell' of sorts
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part II - Illegal Drug Addicts Mobbing the Wrong People, This Will Definitely Backfire
- This year may well be the last year of Team Campinos. Nobody will hire them after that.
- Mass Layoffs (But Silent Layoffs) Still Happening in IBM, You Need Only Look Closely (There Are NDAs, PIPs, 'Early Retirement' Sweeteners and IBM - Like Microsoft - Skirts the WARN Act)
- the layoffs are definitely happening
- Very Little Slop
- We are not finding much slop anymore
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- Over at Tux Machines...
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- Links for the day
- Links 18/02/2026: Gig 'Economy' Condemned, Microsoft Insulting/Stressing People With False Slop Predictions
- Links for the day
- Twitter Falling to 1% in Africa's Largest Nation (Algeria)
- About 15 years ago the regime in Egypt got toppled (and others had been too) partly because of social control media such as Twitter
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- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Responds to Crises Only After It's Way Too Late
- The SRA does not do its job. The new chief's job is face-saving PR in the media.
- The Techrights Team Makes the Platform Faster
- The infrastructure is already fast
- Mozilla Firefox Died in Afghanistan
- Mozilla has been a complete disaster
- Gemini Links 18/02/2026: Astronomy and Texinfo
- Links for the day
- Are IBM CEO and IBM CFO Ready for Financial Audit That Topples the Shares by 50% in One Day?
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- French people lost interest in Social Control 'Media' (or Networks)
- "Senior AI Reporter" at Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica Has Written Nothing in Nearly a Week, Did Conde Nast Suspend Him for Fake Articles With Fake Quotes?
- Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica is having a serious credibility issue right now
- Linux Foundation Puts Slop Images, Not Just Slop Text, in Linux.com
- More of the same then
- The Register MS Paid-for 'Articles' (Ads) Seem to be LLM Slop Again
- If it's true that The Register MS is resorting to these marketing tactics, will they later delete the evidence (as they did months ago)?
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 17, 2026
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- Building a bigger snowball for later
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- systemd at this point is sort of like IBM/Microsoft thing
- IBM suffers "worst weekly drop in six years", Microsoft's MSN calls it "buying opportunity"
- Ask Cramer what to do
- Still Some Slopfarms in View, Sometimes Targetting "Linux"
- That's a total of at least 4 in Google News today, coming from 3 sources
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- Links for the day
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- Links for the day
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- The EPO's "Cocaine Communication Manager" would hate to see the next "productivity" metrics
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- Don't hate technology, hate the corporations that abuse it to promote coercion, exploitation etc.
- Resisting IBM and EPO Corruption
- Rise up against EPO dictatorship next week
- Where Slop Meets Ghostwriting: It's a False Analogy
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- Links 17/02/2026: Why OpenClaw is Very Sleazy and Ars Technica Exposed as Hub of LLM Slop (Credibility Destroyed Overnight)
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- The culprits are repeat offenders, but the publisher will never admit this in public
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- portraying charlatans and frauds like they're some kind of visionaries and luminaries
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- Conde Nast might shut Ars Technica down to escape the bad publicity/association
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