GNUCash 2.4.0 has been released

GNUCash - for those in the dark - is a Free accounting package which you can use to keep track of your net worth, your income, and expenses. It operates under the double entry accounting principle.

If you are not aware of double entry accounting, let me direct you to a wonderful article called "A day in the life of Dave the Dollar" which explains this concept in simple layman terms. In fact, a few years back, it was this very article which persuaded me to start using GNUCash in the first place.

GNUCash team recently released the latest iteration of its flagship product aka version 2.4. GNUCash is a stable and mature product fit to be used not just by home users but also in small businesses. So you won't find that many new features.

However, in version 2.4.0, GNUCash has transitioned to the more advanced WebKit engine to render reports and graphs. In earlier versions, GtkHTML HTML engine was used. Another interesting feature you will find in ver 2.4.0 is the ability to optionally use a database such as Sqlite3, MySQL, or PostgreSQL to store your accounting data instead of the traditional XML based native file format.

The XML-based native file format is adequate for personal finance uses but it does not scale well to the numbers of transactions seen in a typical business setting, and it is not well suited to a multi-user, integrated workflow.

You can download the latest version of GNUCash 2.4.0 from its website. It is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. If you are using a rolling release Linux distribution (such as PCLinuxOS), you can install it directly from its repository.

I am curious, do you use an accounting software to keep your accounts ? If yes, which do you prefer ?

KDE 4.5.4 for Windows Released

KDE Windows team has rolled out the latest iteration of KDE 4.5.4 for Windows.

With all the advances made, KDE developers say KDE for Windows is still not ready for stable use. However, the latest version KDE 4.5.4 compilation for Windows brings with it a number of features which would convince end users and developers to give it a try.

Patrick Spendrin the Release Manager of the KDE for Windows initiative explains why KDE could do well on the Windows platform in this lengthy interview he gave Pau Garcia i Quiles.

You can download the latest version of KDE 4.5.4 for Windows from here.

KDE Version 4.6.0 Released - Integrates Support For Mobile Devices

KDE team has released version 4.6.0 of its flagship product - The KDE Desktop. This is a major release that  brings lots of improvements, and  which promises a far better user experience.

The notable enhancements you will find in KDE 4.6.0 are as follows -

A new Activities system has been introduced in the KDE Plasma Workspaces. This helps you to demarcate your activities on computer into different categories like Work, Home, Recreation, Web browsing, etc.Dolphin file manager gets Faceted Browsing - This allows Dolphin to give you better search results by reading the meta data of files.KDE games have been spruced up. Gwenview (The image viewer) and KSnapshot (The screen capture tool) have received Social Networking capabilities. This means you will be able to share your snapshots and pictures to Flickr, Twitter, Facebook etc from within these tools.KDE in 4.6.0 gains "Mobile build target" which allows for easier deployment of applications on mobile platforms.
As of now experimental builds of KDE applications for various mobile platforms like MeeGo, MS Windows Mobile and Symbian can be found on the web but are currently unsupported.
With the mobile build target capabilities gained by KDE applications, this is bound to change for the better.

You can read the official announcement from KDE for the full details.

And if you are itching to try out KDE 4.6.0, I would strongly recommend a Linux distribution which has a rolling release because these Linux distributions bring changes far more quicker than traditional Linux distributions which follow a 6 month release schedule.Arch Linux, and PCLinuxOS support a rolling release.

XFCE 4.8 has been released

XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment that aims to be fast and low on system resources. Nearly after a 2 years hiatus, XFCE has released version 4.8. A number of new features have made their way into XFCE ver 4.8. Some of them being the ability to browse remote shares using a variety of protocols, a redesign of the XFCE panel thus improving positioning, transparency, item and launcher management, a new menu plugin to view directories, improved keyboard layout selection, and more.
The XFCE 4.8 development cycle also saw a serious release strategy formed after the "Xfce Release and Development Model" developed at the Ubuntu Desktop Summit in May 2009.

Take a full feature tour of XFCE 4.8 and view the changelog to know more.