Hello everyone! We see that Ubuntu Lucid has a new look but what about its derivate Kubuntu? Well, Kubuntu has some modifications too. The last time when I tried KDE was when Intrepid Ibex came out, so today I decided to go to www.kubuntu.com and download the ISO image. If you wish you can download it too for free, but I suggest you to use a torrent download since it is a almost 700 MB download. The download was finished in about 30 minutes at a speed of about 500 kb/s so I went to a walk and when I came back the download was already finished. I quickly opened Virtual Box, created a new machine and indicated where the ISO is stored. VOILA! In 10 minutes Kubuntu 10.04 was loaded in Virtual Box as a LIVE Session! The first thing you will see is this screen:
Now, after I selected the first options and let Kubuntu to load I got this:
As you can see KDE changed its color theme a bit and I love it... I don't know about other early version of KDE but in intrepid the panel was blue.The whither lines of the panel theme on the left give it some more style and it makes it pleasant for the eye. I also see some modifications of the notification area. The first looks tempted me to try Kubuntu for a few weeks and I will do it as soon I can get my hands on a CD.
I also wanted to see how the interface of the other programs look so I went into exploring the desktop. Here is a screen shot with Amarok:
If I dig a bit into my memories I notice that the theme looks more fresh (I love the default theme of Kubuntu!) and it looks very shiny (KDE is very shiny in general).The Play button and the Volume button are very big and this will make easy for me to mute and unmute the sound!I searched into Amarok for the Ubuntu One Music Store but I did not found it, I don't know, maybe I am blind, please comment if you found it.
Also the default movie player is Dragon Player but I have no experience with it so i can't give you my opinion.
Next, I opened Dolphin, the default file manager of KDE. And here is the screen shot:
Its shiny just like Amarok! The icon theme remained blue as always and the side panels are still there. No any apparent change in Dolphin. I did not had enough time to dig for the new features included in this release but I plan to do this as soon I install KDE on top of GNOME ( I am a Gnome fan, but this is about to change).
As instant messaging KDE offers Kopete. Kopete supports video calls for some protocols and that makes it earn its place.
I will offer a more detailed article about KDE 4.4 SC soon since this is just an attempt to see whats new in GUI... I did not look over many application but this offers a conclusion about the new default the of Kubuntu. Hope you enjoyed it.
