The first beta of KDE 4.1 has been released. The final version of KDE 4.1 is expected to ship on July 28, 2008. If you have tried KDE 4.0 you probably know it has promise, but it’s more like a preview package for KDE 4.1. In KDE 4.1 Beta 1 significant improvements has been made to Plasma (including a nift Cover Switch ala Compiz Fusion’s Shift Switcher), appearance of Kontact, new lightweight media player Dragon Player and Dolphin now has tabbed views.

Packages are currently available for Mandriva, openSUSE, Windows and Mac OS X. More information on KDE 4.1 Beta 1 can be read here.