Testers assemble: Plasma 6.4 Beta has been released!

Plasma 6.4 will be arriving in a month, meanwhile, you can try an unstable version here:

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.90/

Remember: this is beta software! This means it has only been partially tested. Install it at your own risk and report bugs to

https://bugs.kde.org

#Plasma6 #linux #desktop

@kde@lemmy.kde.social

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social you should make either brave or vivaldi the default browser since firefox isnt secure anymore

@jonthegamenerd @kde@lemmy.kde.social

KDE doesn't make anything your default browser. That is your distro.

@jonthegamenerd @kde @kde Isn't secure anymore how? Also, Vivaldi is proprietary and for this reason I would recommend against using it and certainly against distros making it the default browser.

@noisytoot @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social @jonthegamenerd Firefox isn't secure anymore because it now has an unlimited license to use your data in any way they please. On the subject of Vivaldi, it is partially open source, not 100% proprietary, above 90% of the code is up for grabs and all of it is easily decompiled; please learn to use correct terms.

@DavidsCreation @kde @kde @jonthegamenerd I am using the correct terms. Partially proprietary software is still proprietary, and if the ability to decompile a program made it free software, then every program would be free. As for Firefox: The Terms of Use explicitly only apply to Mozilla's official binaries, not if you compile from source or use distro packages. Mozilla also can't use your data if you don't send any of your data to them, and there are multiple forks of Firefox that would remove such antifeatures (LibreWolf, GNU IceCat) that you could use instead.

@noisytoot @jonthegamenerd Even if it is true that Vivaldi is "proprietary" which I feel IS an incorrect term, (partially open sounds better) it has a much more sound privacy policy than Firefox and is based in Iceland, one of the best countries in the world privacy wise. Don't start telling me to build from source; because I'm not gonna do that, Mozilla shouldn't have done what they did with their licensing. Period. No excuses to be made. Vivaldi is not free software, but it is still more trustable than Firefox. Please give me one instance of Vivaldi invading users privacy; Firefox does it constantly.

@DavidsCreation @jonthegamenerd I'm not making excuses for Mozilla's new Terms of Service, I'm just saying that it only applies to Mozilla's official binaries and not distro packages (which is what's relevant here, since whatever Firefox build is installed by default is very likely a package built from source by your distro that the Terms of Service does not apply to). I'd prefer my web browser to not have any kind of EULA (Terms of Service that has to be accepted to use the software is an EULA) and to only make requests to websites I visit. The proprietary component of Vivaldi is an essential part of it (the UI) and it's not possible to build binaries or use Vivaldi without it - if it was a small, optional component I might agree. I don't trust any proprietary software and would not use any distro that installed it by default.

@noisytoot @jonthegamenerd I see no issue with Vivaldi wanting to make their UI closed. It has no real security implications, since all of the features that might actually damage privacy or security "fundamentally" are open (yes, Vivaldi made most of their own code open, too, just not the UI). If you have any issues with Vivaldi privacy wise, then don't make excuses and look through it yourself on your PC... They encourage it since a lot of developers do it for plugins, anyway. There is no real issue with the UI being closed.

@noisytoot @jonthegamenerd Vivaldi takes a different approach to their code; it is not obfuscated or hidden away. Anyone can look at it, despite it being "proprietary", unlike with other browsers, (i.e: chrome, microsoft edge) which keep that code obfuscated and hidden. Vivaldi is essentially source available.

@DavidsCreation @jonthegamenerd I see being proprietary as an issue in itself - it doesn't respect my freedom to modify the software running on my computer to do whatever I want. The Vivaldi EULA explicitly prohibits modification. It also prohibits reverse engineering/decompilation although I haven't looked at the code to see if this would be necessary. I avoid proprietary software whenever possible.

@DavidsCreation @jonthegamenerd I agree that Firefox and Chromium aren’t great for practical user modifiability despite the fact that they’re free software. I might switch to Nyxt whenever it gains WebExtensions support. It’s basically the Emacs of web browsers - written in Common Lisp and meant to be easily user-modifiable.

@noisytoot @jonthegamenerd One of the Vivaldi developers said in a blog that modding Vivaldi's closed source code for personal use is okay, actually :3
I don't blame you for disliking the proprietary software idea in general, I just don't have an issue with it in this circumstance because it's only 5% of the code, which is changeable and able to be looked at anyway.

@noisytoot @jonthegamenerd That sounds reasonable. Open source wise I would recommend using mullvad browser (Firefox based) in the mean time, as it's certified by the TOR browser project and maintained VERY well.

@kde
Are announcement-esque notable changes changelogs written for test releases like these?

I know how to read the full changelog but I don't have the time to do so, but I'd still like to know the non-minor changes

@hellbeast

>Are announcement-esque notable changes changelogs written for test releases like these?

No. The next announcement will be for the final release of 6.4 on 17th June.