KDE is officially called: "KDE SC"

I must of missed this one on the RSS Feeds (KDE Dot New, Planet KDE, KDE Apps, and KDE Look, etc).

KDE is now officially called: KDE SC. KDE isn’t a Desktop but a Software Compilation

Snippets:

8th January 2010 - KDE SC 4.4 RC1 Released
“KDE Community Ships Release Candidate for KDE SC 4.4.0.”

21st December 2009 - KDE SC 4.4 Beta 2 Released
“KDE Community Ships Second Preview for KDE SC 4.4 Series.”

4th December 2009 - KDE SC 4.4 Beta 1 Released
“KDE Community Ships First Preview for KDE SC 4.4 Series.”

1st December 2009 - KDE SC 4.3.4 Released
“KDE Community Ships Fourth Update to KDE SC 4.3 Series.”

3rd November 2009 - KDE 4.3.3 Released
“KDE Community Ships Third Update to KDE 4.3 Series.”

6th October 2009 - KDE 4.3.2 Released
“KDE Community Ships Second Update to KDE 4.3 Series.”

Summary

  • We will use simply “KDE” and retire the expansion “K Desktop Environment”
  • We will use “KDE” exclusively in two meanings:
    oo KDE, the community, which creates free software for end users
    oo As an umbrella brand for the technology created by the KDE community
  • We will use distinct brands for the software that was previously referred to generically as “KDE”:
    oo The KDE Workspaces will be separately referred to as “KDE Plasma Desktop” and “KDE Plasma Netbook”
    oo The KDE technologies used for building applications will be referred to as the “KDE Platform”
    oo The KDE Applications will stay as they are: “the KDE Applications”
    oo The product we currently have released as “KDE 4.3” is essentially a compilation of our software (Workspaces, Applications and Platform), and thus the next release will be named “KDE Software Compilation 4.4”

Does this make a difference when a potential user asks, should I install Gnome or KDE? Actually it is GNOME and KDE Plasma Desktop. I’m not sure how much of KDE SC one has to install. Can a user just install KDE Plasma Desktop? Is it all or nothing?

What impact will this have on distributions? Will Kubuntu become KSCUbuntu? Will this have any impact on OpenSUSE?

Reference:

I think you have missed the point; the philosophy of KDE4 is to move away from the 1980s desktop model towards an interface which has multiple windows on the world.

KDE is also moving away from just providing applications for the desktop towards providing social networking and web based applications which are not tied to the desktop - hence the support of Nokia for the group.

The new title is intended to refer to what people used to think of as KDE with the intention that other parts of the KDE ecosystem will carry other names.

I actually don’t think SC helps them to clarify that but the reason for it - broadening out from just desktop software - is sound.