KDE ships KDE PIM 4.6.0 and June updates

[ This is a draft and request for review/feedback]

June 8th, 2011. Today, KDE has released the 4.6.0 version of its popular PIM 
application suite. Long awaited new versions of KMail, KAddressBook, 
KOrganizer and more are now available, making use of the modern, extensible 
application frameworks available in KDE and Akonadi. 

This release co-incides with the fourth maintenance release of the Plasma 
Desktop and Netbook Workspaces, the KDE applications, and the KDE 
Developement Frameworks in the 4.6 series. This 4.6.4 release is a 
recommended update for everyone currently running 4.6.3 or earlier versions. 
As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a 
safe and pleasant update for everyone. KDE's software is already translated 
into more than 55 languages, with more to come.

The release of KDE PIM 4.6.0 is one of many development milestones since 
initial planning for the future of KDE PIM started in 2005. The PIM 
applications now use a local client server architecture called <a 
href="http://community.kde.org/KDE_PIM/Akonadi">Akonadi</a> for data 
retrieval, data updates, caching and sharing data between applications. 
Akonadi decouples the applications from the actual location of data, making
// #include "moc_main.cpp"
 it easier to add application features like Facebook integration and access 
to Google calendars. 

Additionally, as Akonadi provides a common means to access data which was 
previously only accessible from applications themselves (like KAddressBook), 
it is easier to write entirely new applications based on the same 
technology. This has already been happening with applications like <a 
href="http://cmollekopf.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/updates-from-
mindmirror/">MindMirror</a> and <a 
href="http://ervin.ipsquad.net/2011/05/10/zanshin-0-2-alpha2/">Zanshin</a> 
under development. Such applications share the same data as used by KMail, 
KOrganizer and KJots, so integrate seamlessly with the user experience.

Technological updates in the traditional PIM applications like KMail are 
also available in the new version. Features such as IMAP push delivers 
instant updates to your inbox, Plasma integration allows lightweight 
notification and collation, and Nepomuk brings semantic features such as 
tagging and powerful search queries.

Many of these features have been available for some time in the KDE PIM 
frameworks, but the 4.6.0 release of KDE PIM is the first time applications 
have been released to take advantage of the new features and integration. 
Apart from the desktop applications available in this release, there is also 
a set of touch orientated application user interfaces developed for mobile 
and portable device form factors. The mobile applciations were developed to 
include all of the features available in the traditional desktop 
applications, but optimized for a touch orientated UI and based on QtQuick 
and QML technologies. Kontact touch is one of the largest QtQuick based 
suite of applications to date released as Free Software.

This release is a milestone for the KDE PIM suite itself, but is also a 
milstone for the development team, the artists and others collaborating on 
the look and feel, documenters, promoters and evangelists. This is not the 
first milestone in the process and it will not be the last. Every effort has 
been made to ensure a smooth experience for most users, but as this release 
includes a large body of new code, there are likely to be minor regressions, 
and some missing features. We encourage all users of previous versions of 
KDE PIM to try the new version and help make future versions even better.



 
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