The developers of the open source KDE desktop environment announced the availability of the second KDE 4.1 beta release this week. This version has many improvements to usability and overall robustness compared to the previous beta. I tested KDE 4.1 beta 2 with a LiveCD build of openSUSE 11.

Some of the new Plasma features that were introduced in beta 1 are maturing and feel like a much more natural part of the KDE experience. The Plasma panel configuration mechanism, for instance, is more fully implemented in this release. I was able to change the panel width and height, change its position along the screen edge, and move it to different screen edges, all with simple point-and-click interactions. I was also able to add and remove additional panels.