Yesterday, KDE development community announced the official version 4.1 release. This release should bring the "next-generation" desktop environment, as well as introduce fixes for previous version.

According to KDE developers, this new version has over 20,803 changes since the 4.0 version. Our friends at ArsTechnica have given it a spin; and apparently many features in 4.0 that didn’t really strike a chord are now improved and quite useful.

This version also features the new integrated PIM suite, Kontact, Akonadi storage framework, DragonPlayer video playback program, Oketa hex editor and KSCD audio CD player. Furthermore, Dolphin now features support for tab browsing.

Those who might’ve not liked 4.0 version will definitely want to download this one, as it's apparently nicely polished and runs like a charm.

You can read more here and download KDE 4.1 here.