[Xfce-advocacy] Re: Reminder: Beta 2 this WE

[Francois Le Clainche]

Le ven 29/10/2004 à 11:05, Benedikt Meurer a écrit :

> > Please, let's keep the beta release notes simple. The final 4.2.0 release
> > should make as big a splash as possible with a lots of marketing-speak in the
> > release notes and explanation of the project, etc. Betas are for people who
> > already know what xfce is and are curious to see what's new and would like to
> > help out with testing. 
> 
> IMHO the betas are quite stable already and therefore I think it would 
> be a good idea to attract new users ASAP in the release process.
> 
> And btw. I think the current release notes document is quite ok for a 
> BETA. I can take care of it, I just need a native speaker to check it 
> afterwards. :-)

Attached is release notes draft v4, text version.

François
-------------- next part --------------
[Insert Date]
Today, the Xfce project <http://www.xfce.org> has released version 4.2beta2 of its
Desktop Environment and development framework for Unix platforms, based on GTK+
toolkit, and designed following the Freedesktop specifications. It can be
downloaded from [Insert URL]

Xfce 4.2 embodies the traditional UNIX philosophy of modularity and
re-usability : you can install/launch each modules/application separately if
you do not need them all, or if you have very limited system resources. 

Xfce 4.2 is the first desktop environment to ship an easy to use graphical
installation wizard, which takes care of compiling and installing Xfce and
contributed packages on your computer. [more details?] 
See [Insert URL of download page] for download and instructions.

Xfce 4.2, while still being lightweight, offers several new and awaited
features in comparison with its previous 4.0 stable release, like a brand new
session manager, keyboard shortcuts and desktop menu graphical editors,
multihead support (Xinerama and real multiscreen), "kiosk mode" support,
optional support for icons in the desktop menu, a desktop menu plugin for the
panel, CUPS and BSD-LPR printing support, a new icon theme... Moreover, Xfce
4.2 provides "on the edge" features, like a compositing manager for xfwm4 (a
manager for the new Xorg compositor extension, which brings true transparency
to the Xfce desktop), or support of the base directory specification. Xfce is
now available in more than 25 languages.

It includes, among others, the following applications:

* xfwm4 : The Xfce 4.2 window manager.
* xfce4-panel : The Xfce 4.2 panel. It provides easy-to-setup detachable menus
  and application launchers. It is compatible with the numerous plug-ins provided
  by the Xfce Goodies Project, including the appreciated taskbar plugin.
* xfdesktop : The desktop background and root window menu manager.
* xfce4-session : The session manager. It controls the startup and shutdown of
  the Xfce Desktop Environment and other applications.
* xffm : A fast file manager, with double pane and integrated samba network
  browser.
* xfce-utils : provides, among other tools, the Xfce user guide, and xftaskbar4,
  a separated taskbar that provide a useful tool to manage windows.
* xfce4-appfinder : An new application finder, which allows you to search, launch
  and find information about applications installed on your system.
* xfce4-iconbox : An icon box that can be used as an alternative for the taskbar.
* xfce-mcs-manager and xfce-mcs-plugins: Provides the centralized Multi-Channel
  Settings manager and its plugins, which allow instant-apply of the settings
  modifications.
* xfprint : The print dialog and manager.

Xfce 4.2 has its own GTK2 theme engine and window manager themes that allow
homogeneity in applications both for business and personal desktops.

A more detailed description of Xfce 4.2 features can be found [Insert URL of
summary page]

About Xfce Project: [Insert a less-than-80-words description of the project]

[Insert the signature of the group or the name of developers or ..., just
something that clearly identifies the project.]