In this week's KDE Commit-Digest:

• Aurorae goes QML, ClientGroup becomes scriptable in KDE base
• Calligra sees work on footnotes, all interactive painting tools are threading-friendly; Kexi introduces Simple User Feedback Agent
• Rekonq adds about:tabs, an easy method to manage rekonq tabs

The latest set of KDE releases has been announced. It includes major updates to Plasma Workspaces, Applications, and the Development Platform. Version 4.8 provides many new features, as well as improved stability and performance. Check out the highlights below and read the full announcement.

Dolphin gets a new display engine (click for larger)

In this week's KDE Commit-Digest:

• Work on inter-file search in Lokalize
• New weather services: geonames and favorite weather station
• Google Code-in work on Marble; plugins integrated
• MLT clip analysis and freesound.org integration in Kdenlive

In this week's KDE Commit-Digest:

• Multiple changes in scripting in KWin: properties, interactive console to run scripts, import of a KCM
• Start of generic clip job framework implementation for Kdenlive
• In Calligra, updates of MSOffice 2000/2003 and 2007 format support, multiple fixes

A few months ago, the British journal Sociology published an article titled "Challenging Code: A Sociological Reading of the KDE Free Software Project". Eager to find out what a 'sociological reading' of KDE entails, Dot editor Oriol Mirosa rushed to contact the article's author, sociologist Brian Alleyne, who graciously and patiently agreed to be the subject of an interview. Read on to learn more about Brian, sociology, and the significance of KDE for the social sciences:

In this week's KDE Commit-Digest:

• In Calligra, extended undo/redo functionality, updated Excel 2000/2003 support, optimization of formula parsing and numerous bugfixes
• Kmix now shows MPRIS2 streams
• More useful capacity bar when hovering collection in Amarok

Krita (click to enlarge)

The Calligra and KDE on Windows teams are proud to announce the first testing version of the Calligra Suite Windows installer. Yes, Windows users, you can now use and help test the Calligra from the comfort of your own operating system with a single installer.

Today KDE released the second release candidate for its renewed Workspaces, Applications, and Development Platform. With API, dependency and feature freezes in place, the KDE team's focus is now on fixing bugs and further polishing new and old functionality. Please give this release another good round of testing to help us release a rock-solid 4.8 later this month.

In this week's KDE Commit-Digest:

• Better support of wildcards in the directory path field and improved menu key functionality in Dolphin
• Interface for pictureshape cropping, cache rendering in assistants, numbered bibliography entries, improved DOCX, OOXML support in Calligra
• Memorize expanded groups in bookmarks in Skrooge

KDE España has started planning Akademy-es 2012—the most important KDE-related event in Spain. The conference is an opportunity for Spanish KDE users and developers to meet, share experiences, catch up on KDE news, and plan for the future. Akademy-es includes a range of presentations, workshops, hacking sessions, informal get-togethers and an assembly of KDE España members. KDE members and supporters will be coming from other countries to enjoy famous Spanish hospitality and meet up with KDE friends.