Wayland and New App Menu Coming to KDE
The 2021 roadmap for the KDE desktop environment includes some exciting features and improvements.
If you’re a fan of KDE, 2021 is going to be an exciting year for you. If you’re not a fan of KDE, this year might change that.
The most important of those roadmap plans is Wayland support. In fact, according to KDE developer Nate Graham, “I expect the trend of serious, concentrated Wayland work to continue in 2021, and finally make Plasma Wayland session usable for an increasing number of people’s production workflows.”
Look for Wayland to be production ready sometime this year.
Other KDE features coming up in 2021 include a new App Menu. This will hit Plasma 5.21 and, as Graham said, will be “super modern and awesome.” For a sneak peek at what the Kickoff replacement might look like, check out the Kickoff redesign page. Another exciting development will be full stack support for fingerprint authentication. This will include the lockscreen KAuth, Polkit, and more. The Breeze theme will also be undergoing an evolution. This change will not be fundamental, but more a modernization of the look.
Other, smaller, changes coming to KDE this year might include power/session actions in the lock screen and reflowing text in the Konsole terminal app.
Beyond software, KDE also hopes to find more hardware partnerships, closer coordination with various Linux distributions, and more effort put forth on the Neon distribution.
Read the full KDE roadmap here.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Dutch Government Turns to Open Source for Digital Sovereignty
Following in the footsteps of European countries, the Netherlands is looking to increase its sovereign digital infrastructure with open source software.
-
Linux May Soon Work on Snapdragon X2-Based PCs
If you're thinking about buying a Snapdragon X2-based desktop or laptop, Linux may soon be an option.
-
KDE for People Initiative Calls for AI Ban in Plasma
A new community of KDE wants the project to adopt a strict no-AI policy for KDE Plasma.
-
KDE Sets Ambitious Goals for 2026 and Beyond
KDE Connect reveals the goals for the Linux desktop darling, with one of those goals long overdue.
-
It’s Time to Test Fedora 45 Beta
Fedora 45 beta has been released with updated Gnome, KDE Plasma, and kernel.
-
Ubuntu Stonking Stingray Gets Even Rustier
Ubuntu 26.10 has completed its migration to the Rust-based coreutils.
-
AI Fixes Linux Bottlenecks Using “Hideous” Code
A Linux developer used AI to fix bottlenecks that caused problems when building the kernel. The resulting AI-generated code needed a lot of work.
-
Advanced Video Coding Still Under Patent
Brazilian patent BRPI0109962B1 has expired, which means that DivX and Xvid are no longer problematic for Linux, but it doesn’t mean that video is all of a sudden fully unleashed.
-
2,000 Vulnerabilities per Linux Release
Thanks to AI bug hunters, the Linux kernel is seeing record numbers of vulnerabilities, and it's overwhelming developers.
-
Linux Exempt from California’s Age Verification Law
So long as Linux is distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses, the OS is exempt from being required to verify the age of its users in California.