Download KDE Software Compilation 4.13

Version 4.13 of the KDE Software Compilation has been released. This popular desktop environment, which consists of the Development Platform, Plasma Workspaces and Applications components, is primarily developed for Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris, but there are also versions for Windows and OS X, although they are somewhat less advanced in their development. The KDE Software Compilation comes with a standard desktop, including a variety of applications, including a personal information manager, multimedia and network management programs, and games. In version 4.13, among other things, the semantic search function has been improved.

KDE Applications 4.13 Benefit From The New Semantic Search, Introduce New Features

The latest major updates to the KDE Applications are delivering new features and fixes. Kontact (the personal information manager) has been the subject of intense activity, benefiting from the improvements to KDE’s Semantic Search technology and bringing new features. Document viewer Okular and advanced text editor Kate have gotten interface-related and feature improvements. In the education and game areas, we introduce the new foreign speech trainer Artikulate; Marble (the desktop globe) gets support for Sun, Moon, planets, bicycle routing and nautical miles. Palapeli (the jigsaw puzzle application) has leaped to unprecedented new dimensions and capabilities. read the announcement.

KDE Development Platform 4.13 Introduces Improved Semantic Search

The KDE Development Platform libraries are frozen and receive only bug fixes and minor improvements. The upgrade in the version number for the Development Platform is only for packaging convenience. All bug fixes and minor features developed since the release of Applications and Development Platform 4.11 have been included. The only major change in this release is the introduction of an improved Semantic Search, which brings better performance and reliability to searching on the Linux Desktop.

Development of the next generation KDE Development Platform—called KDE Frameworks 5—is in beta stage. Read this article to find out what is coming and see here for the latest announcements.

Improved Semantic Search

The major new addition to the KDE Development Platform is the next generation Semantic Search. To maintain compatibility, this is included as a new component rather than a replacement for the previous Semantic Search. Applications need to be ported to the new search component; most KDE Applications have already been ported. Downstream distributions can decide whether or not to ship the deprecated Semantic Search alongside the new version.

The improvements to search bring significant benefits in terms of faster, more relevant results, greater stability, lower resource usage and less data storage. The upgrade requires a one-time database migration that will take a few minutes of increased processing power.

Task grouping in Plasma Workspaces 4.10