My first steps on the Linux desktop were with FVWM, later with Enlightenment. KDE never really managed to hold me, so I’ve been using Gnome forever. Still, I take an interested look every time a new Plasma release shows up with an endless changelog. And now this desktop is getting its own movie.
Since Saturday, the trailer for “KDE: The Documentary” has been up on YouTube, and it has collected a good 43,000 views in its first few days. The full film follows on October 14. It tells the story of the project, from Matthias Ettrich’s call on Usenet, through the Qt licensing dispute that split the free desktop world, to KDE 4, the release that almost tore the community apart, and the comeback afterwards.
The cast list reads like a reunion of the free desktops: founder Matthias Ettrich, plus Martin Konold, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, Eva Brucherseifer and Cornelius Schumacher from the early years. From the Trolltech and Qt side come Eirik Chambe-Eng and Lars Knoll, and the Plasma era is represented by Aaron Seigo, Sebastian Kügler, Eike Hein, Albert Astals Cid and Nate Graham. And right in the middle of it: Miguel de Icaza, who co-founded Gnome in 1997 as a response to exactly this licensing problem. The fact that he gets to speak in a KDE documentary is a small sensation in itself.
Why October 14 of All Days?
The date is no coincidence, it’s the birthday. On October 14, 1996, Matthias Ettrich wrote his legendary post (in German) in the newsgroup de.comp.os.linux.misc, calling on people to build a graphical interface for Unix together, meant for end users, not for admins. The name Kool Desktop Environment was a jab at CDE, which was proprietary at the time. By the way, a nice detail for us: the starting shot for probably the best-known Linux desktop was fired in a German-language newsgroup, subject line “New Project: Kool Desktop Environment. Programmers wanted!”.
So KDE turns 30 on that day, and the project is using the occasion for a fundraising campaign. The goal is 1,500 supporting members, with a stretch goal of 1,996 by the Akademy. Using the year as a target number, you have to pull that off first. According to KDE, around 70 percent of the funds come from individuals, not from corporations. If you want to chip in, you’ll find the details on the anniversary page.
CultRepo: the people behind the camera
The film was produced by CultRepo, and the name probably doesn’t ring a bell for many people. The team is behind the YouTube channel, which used to run under Honeypot (in German). Honeypot is the Berlin job portal for developers whose lavishly produced open source documentaries earned the channel its reputation as the “Netflix for developers.” Since 2025, the crew has been going its own way, funded by sponsors and direct support from viewers. It is led by Emma Tracey, and the films are made by Josiah McGarvie and Ida Bechtle.
The list of films so far is respectable: Elixir (2018), Ember.js and GraphQL (2019), Vue.js (2020), Kubernetes and Prometheus (2022), Ruby on Rails and React.js (2023), Node.js (2024), Angular, Vite and Python (2025). Most recently, C++: The Documentary with Bjarne Stroustrup came out in June 2026. So far, it has almost always been about languages and frameworks, and KDE is the first desktop on the list. And unlike a framework, this project has real drama to offer: a license war, a split, a release that drove users away in droves, and it has still made it to 30 years.
Even as a Gnome user, I’m happy every time KDE ships another update with a big pile of new features. A second big, very much alive desktop is good for the Linux world, and the fact that this project has held on for 30 years is anything but a given. A large part of the history behind it is still scattered across mailing list archives and old Planet KDE posts, and the people who were there aren’t getting any younger. On October 14, we’ll know more. And you? What did you start with back then: KDE, Gnome, or one of the old window managers?
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