KDE/Vision/Drafts/A

This document is a vision for the future of KDE. It describes worthy goals we see today for the next, let's say 5, years. It is a living document, and will need updating over the years.

An end-user focused, openly governed free software community

KDE is a community of free software enthusiasts that strives to provide graphical user interfaces and applications for end-users for all types of computers across the device spectrum: desktops PCs, laptops, tablet, smartphones, etc.

We believe that software should be free and respectful of the privacy of our users. Our users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Our software uses strong encryption algorithms, and comes without any backdoors, hidden monitoring, or data collection.

To achieve our goals we work on:

A complete set of cross-platform end-user applications

We want to offer a complete set of end-user applications running on all major operating systems (Linux, OSX, Windows, Android, etc.). This way we enable end-users to manage their "digital life" using free software no matter on which operating system. The set of applications covers internet, office, communication, multimedia, games and many other. These provide the familiar and consistent KDE user experience while fully integrating into the host operating system. Consistency and integration between applications is reached by following common guidelines and using common technologies.

A modern desktop environment for UNIX operating systems

We provide a classical desktop environment for computers and devices running Linux or any other UNIX-compatible operating system, as known from KDE 3 and Plasma. It delivers a polished user experience. It is easy to use and flexible. It contains the essentials of a desktop and basic applications like a file manager and a web browser.

A user interface for mobile/embedded Linux systems

We want KDE to offer the most advanced "desktop" for "mobile Linux", like tablets, smartphones or embedded systems.

• How about "A modern free desktop available on all widely used form factors"? This would make it clear that KDE is not PC focused, but also that we are not necessarily running behind crazy dreams like being a platform next to Android. (Mirko)
• I wrote this point with Plasma Mobile in mind, i.e. a user interface for mobile Linux systems, or industrial appliances, which are not Android-based. But I don't have a strong opinion about it. I would leave it on for discussion in the wider community. (Alex N)

A cross-platform Software Development Kit

We support the development of end-user desktop and applications by developing reusable software frameworks. We build on top of the cross-platform Qt framework and provide an extensive set of add-on libraries and components to do the tasks above. These libraries are cross-platform, stable, and provide source and binary compatibility guarantees. They are licensed under Free Software licenses which allow commercial use.

We also provide a state of the art programmer's editor and integrated development environment.