The KDE Edutainment team is proud to announce the official launch
of the KDE Edutainment Project. The project’s ultimate aim is to create educational software based around
KDE, the K Desktop Environment.

By doing this, the team aims to address what we perceive to be one of Linux’s shortcomings: that there is little
software suitable for children, or of an educational nature. Eventually, the ‘kdeedu’ module will be released
simultaneously with future releases of KDE.The KDE Edutainment web site, http://edu.kde.org/ is the main place to obtain information about the project,
and the software that it contains. The site contains information suitable for parents, developers (including
programmers, artists, musicians), and teachers.

You can join the public ‘kde-edu’ mailing list if you would like to contribute to the project in some way, or if you
want to contact the developers. The ‘kde-edu-news’ mailing list is a read-only list where announcements and
a regular newsletter, regarding the project, will be available. You can also join us on IRC, on server irc.kde.org,
in channel #kde-edu.

We are still looking for many more people to contribute to this open source software project, so if you are
interested in contributing in some way, please contact kde-edu@kde.org. If you still have any further
unanswered questions, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions below. If your question still remains
unanswered, please contact kde-edu@kde.org.

Current Applications

Currently, the project consists of the following applications

                         KHangMan -- A hangman-style game 
                         KEduca -- A form-based revision and exam program 
                         KLatin -- A Latin language tutor 
                         KLettres -- A French language tutor, for very young children 
                         KTouch -- A program to teach touch typing 
                         KMessedWords -- Rearrange the letters to form words 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Educational Software (also known as Eduware or Edutainment)?

A: Educational software is software that helps a student of any age learn a skill. For example, a child may
learn to calculate the perimeter of a shape, or to use language correctly (such as the difference between its
and it’s in English); or an adult may learn how to cook.

Educational software should be fun, colorful and attractive. In addition, the pupil (except in the case of young
children) should be able to use the software without parental supervision. See the screenshots on our
website for more information.

Q: Who can take part in the project?

A: Anybody can join the project! We welcome people of all ages and abilities, and there is no need to be a
developer. Many different people with different skill sets will be needed to make the project a success. These
include:

Artists: To create mascots, icons, pictures, animations, etc.
Designers: To design the overall interface of an application, to give consistency in the project so the
pupil could switch from maths to languages and find the same sort of interface.
Developers: Both beginners and more experienced developers are welcome, everyone should be
able to find or start a suitable application project. These application projects will be hosted in KDE
CVS.
Musicians: For sound and music, as well as recorded voices.
Parents and teachers: Feedback is needed to tell us what is needed and how it can best be
accomplished, to test alpha and beta versions, to help with the content, etc. If you have an idea,
send a application proposal, and your idea will be placed in our application project list.
Children: Children, will of course be required to help test the software. They can also tell us their ideas
and wishes.

After the application projects are launched, they will be listed on our application status page. You will then be
able to contact people directly to join a particular application project.

Q: Where can I get more information about the project?

The best place to start would be the http://edu.kde.org website, where you can find, amongst other things, an
application projects page listing our current software.

If you are interested in joining the project, or would like to make a suggestion about what the project should
create, please feel free to contribute!

Copyright © 2001 The KDE Edutainment Project. All rights reserved.

BBC: “Laws designed to catch computer criminals could result in a huge
increase in the amount of covert surveillance carried out on British
citizens by the police and intelligence services.”

Dallas Engelken writes: “Are they scared to admit they got it at their main site? http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/ was hit as well, tagging a javascript for readme.eml at the bottom of the source. Refer to the following email exchange. This was fixed within hours, but nontheless it was hit. –Dallas
—–Original Message—–
To: Jeremy Hoover [mailto:hoover@gti-bti.com]
From: Dallas Engelken
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:59 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Please tell me I’m wrong: microsoft.com infected

—–Original Message—–
From: Jeremy Hoover [mailto:hoover@gti-bti.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:59 PM
To: Dallas Engelken
Subject: Fw: Please tell me I’m wrong: microsoft.com infected

HAHA!
I just checked, and sure enough.
It’s infected…….. lmfao…….

Check it………

—– Original Message —–
From: “Steve Cody”
To:
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 2:37 PM
Subject: Please tell me I’m wrong: microsoft.com infected

> I just went to http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage, and my Symantec
> Norton Antivirus popped up and denied access to readme.eml.
>
> I could not view the source of the loaded page, so I can’t verify
> that it is definitely infected.
>
> Steve
>
>
> ————————————————– ——–
> This list is provided by the SecurityFocus ARIS analyzer service.
> For more information on this free incident handling, management
> and tracking system please see: http://aris.securityfocus.com

“

Dallas Engelken writes: “

Are they scared to admit they got it at their main site? http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/ was hit as well, tagging a javascript for readme.eml at the bottom of the source. Refer to the following email exchange. This was fixed within hours, but nontheless it was hit. –Dallas
—–Original Message—–
To: Jeremy Hoover [mailto:hoover@gti-bti.com]
From: Dallas Engelken
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:59 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Please tell me I’m wrong: microsoft.com infected

—–Original Message—–
From: Jeremy Hoover [mailto:hoover@gti-bti.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:59 PM
To: Dallas Engelken
Subject: Fw: Please tell me I’m wrong: microsoft.com infected

HAHA!
I just checked, and sure enough.
It’s infected…….. lmfao…….

Check it………

—– Original Message —–
From: “Steve Cody”
To:
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 2:37 PM
Subject: Please tell me I’m wrong: microsoft.com infected

> I just went to http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage, and my Symantec
> Norton Antivirus popped up and denied access to readme.eml.
>
> I could not view the source of the loaded page, so I can’t verify
> that it is definitely infected.
>
> Steve
>
>
> ————————————————– ——–
> This list is provided by the SecurityFocus ARIS analyzer service.
> For more information on this free incident handling, management
> and tracking system please see: http://aris.securityfocus.com

“

The Register: “Microsoft and the Department of Justice have filed their “Joint” (but largely separate) Status Report
detailing two wildly divergent plans for the future conduct of the case. From the DoJ’s point of view it’s
all largely done and dusted, so we can move to proposed remedies by 9th November and a full
evidentiary hearing on 4th February; but from Microsoft’s point of view it could take, well maybe six
months for it to prepare its defence, if the judge doesn’t limit the scope of the remedies the DoJ
pitches for.”

BBC: “Future soldiers may be wearing combat gear which uses nanotechnology to protects them from chemical attack, say scientists.”

CNET: “An emerging high-speed Internet standard in Europe holds potential for faster download speeds and broader
availability for many U.S. businesses–if they’re willing to wait a while.

Although DSL speeds vary widely, the new G.SHDSL could be two to three times faster than most versions of DSL
targeted at business customers. The G.SHDSL standard also can deliver data farther than earlier DSL technologies,
which are limited to a relatively short distance.”

Anonymous Reader writes: “For those looking for an MP3 editor, here is a quick blurb on a free program that will fix up those song files without the need to convert the files to .wav first.

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/mp3trim.ht ml“

Wired: “Compaq will create a database to organize and compute data on protein images.”

Wired: “In a possible response to last week’s terrorist attacks, China has unblocked its citizens’ access to U.S. media sites. But skeptics scoff that it’s only a cosmetic change.”