It’s always been just KDE to me. In the past year or so, I’ve noticed people calling Plasma KDE or even just Plasma. What happened? Why do people insist on making the name longer? Why the word Plasma? What is Plasma referring to? And, are they trying to move away from the KDE name to just Plasma?

Answer: Plasma is the desktop environment. KDE is the community that makes Plasma and many other related software.

  • Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show
    7·
    7 hours ago

    Quote from https://www.reddit.com/

    KDE is officially a community dedicated to developing FOSS software. It’s legally represented by the KDE e.V. and the KDE Free Qt Foundation. The latter is to ensure that the dual-licensed Qt software used by KDE stays open source.

    KDE Plasma is the desktop environment made by KDE. It’s sometimes called just KDE because, duh, it shorter. The apps included in Plasma are also made by the KDE (also see KDE Gear).

    There’s the KDE Frameworks, built on top of Qt.

    Plasma mobile is a distribution for mobile devices.

    KDE Neon is a “distribution” showcasing the lastest KDE software.