The KDE project has announced the release of KDE 4.3 Beta 1. This first beta in the KDE 4.3 series, which is expected to be officially released by late July, brings numerous enhancements to this popular desktop environment.

Some of the features found in KDE 4.3 Beta 1 include PolicyKit integration, new window animation effects, configurable keyboard shortcuts for Plasma, an SVG-themed desktop and panel toolbox, a more complete JavaScript API, a fading desktop switcher, many new Plasmoids, new data engines, and many other changes to the desktop and underlying libraries.

The KDE 4.3 Beta 1 announcement can be found at KDE.org.