http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/announcements/00000209.html
Trolltech Launches Major New Version of Qt
OSLO, Norway - June 28 2005Qt 4 Transforms Popular Toolkit to Comprehensive Development Framework for Advanced Applications, Back-end Servers and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Developers
Trolltech® today launched Qt® 4, a major new version of its popular cross-platform development software that delivers a comprehensive framework for building high-performance, cross-platform applications. New features and functionality throughout Qt 4 extend Qt support to the development of the most complex, advanced applications as well as powerful back-end server software. In addition, new integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET makes it easier for commercial Windows developers to take advantage of Qt 4, and the extension of Trolltech's dual licensing to Qt for Windows enables Qt open source developers to now target the Windows platform.
"Qt 4 is the most significant version of Qt we've ever released, firmly establishing it as a comprehensive framework for cross-platform development throughout an organization," said Eirik Chambe-Eng, Trolltech president. "Developing software for multiple platforms is becoming increasingly important, and Qt enables high-performance, native applications that can run virtually anywhere. With Qt 4, our goal is to extend Qt's benefits to a broader range of applications, from graphical desktop programs to complex, performance-intensive applications and database-driven server software."
Power and Performance for Cross-Platform Applications
Qt is an industry-leading C++ application development framework that enables development organizations to write applications once and deploy on any major operating system, including Windows (Windows 98 and later), Linux/Unix and Mac OS X, all from the same code base. The popular KDE Linux desktop as well as thousands of other software applications have been built on Qt, including commercial software from some of the world's largest organizations.
Qt 4 incorporates a wide range of new and updated features and capabilities designed to increase developer performance and productivity, while extending Qt's applicability to the development of complex, high-end applications, including:
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Heavy-duty graphics: Qt 4's graphics subsystem provides everything needed to create state-of-the-art user interfaces, suitable for advanced, heavy-duty visualization. Qt's painter now supports semi-transparency (alpha-blending), anti-aliasing, optional floating-point coordinate system, painter paths, and gradients. Support for interchangeable underlying paint engines and off-screen rendering has also been added. |
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Extended multi-threading: Qt 4 features comprehensive support for threaded programming, making it easier and more efficient to create programs that take full advantage of multi-core processing technology. Qt's advanced multi-threading capabilities, along with its database integration, XML support and other features, enable development teams to build powerful desktop and server-side applications. |
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Speed and memory consumption improvements: Development teams can utilize Qt's advanced functionality while consuming less memory and resources. Users of complex, high performance applications will be able to get more processing done with existing computing power. |
New Integration with Visual Studio
Qt 4 offers new, seamless integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, allowing Visual Studio .NET developers to easily create applications that can run on Linux, Mac OS and other desktop platforms, all from a familiar programming environment. Commercial Windows developers now have access to the full power of Qt tools and resources from within Visual Studio .NET, including Qt's intuitive API, GUI layout system, integrated documentation and templates for the most common Qt application types. In addition, because Qt supports all major operating systems and emerging new technologies, it can insulate Windows applications from API changes and operating system incompatibilities.
"Qt's Visual Studio integration is a welcome addition to our Windows-based development environment," said Jeffrey Markham, senior architect at Cadence Design Systems. "Windows developers can easily breathe life into a user interface with Qt, making Qt-based projects as easily as an ActiveX or MFC project. And with Qt 4, we now get the benefits of a native Windows development environment without sacrificing application portability."
Qt for Windows Available Under Open Source License
Qt 4 is offered under Trolltech's dual-licensing business model for all supported platforms, including Qt for Windows. Dual-licensed software is sold under a commercial license for proprietary, commercial development and is also available under the open source General Public License (GPL) for open source development projects. By making its successful dual-licensing business model available for Qt for Windows, Trolltech further extends Qt's reach into the Windows market, fueling the development of open source applications for the mainstream PC market. Qt for Windows is already widely used for commercial software development.
Availability
Qt 4 is available immediately under both the open source GPL license and a commercial license. Commercial evaluation versions of Qt are now available at http://www.trolltech.com/download/qt/evaluate.html. The Qt Open Source Edition is available for download at http://www.trolltech.com/download/opensource.html. For Qt 4 reference documentation, go to http://doc.trolltech.com/4.0/index.html.
To address a range of software development needs, including back-end server development, Trolltech is offering Qt 4 in an expanded choice of editions:
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Qt Console: an all-new edition of Qt optimized for non-GUI development, such as back-end business logic and server software |
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Qt Desktop Light: an entry-level GUI programming edition that includes the core Qt functionality for cross-platform desktop application development |
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Qt Desktop: a version that includes all core Qt functionality, plus additional enterprise-level features. |
For more information on Qt 4, please go to http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/qt4info.html