Version 6.8 of the KDE Plasma desktop has been released. The The KDE project has timed the release to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Matthias Ettrich's email announcing the project: Unix popularity grows thanks to the free variants, mostly Linux. But still a consistent, nice looking free desktop-environment is missing. There are several nice either free or low-priced applications available, so that Linux/X11 would almost fit everybody needs if we could offer a real GUI. Notable changes include accessibility improvements, inclusion of the Kup backup tool as part of Plasma, as well as the ability to include system audio and microphone input in Spectacle screen recordings. Plasma 6.8 also drops support for Plasma X11 sessions, as was announced in November 2025. X11 applications are still supported via XWayland, and KDE applications will continue to support X11 "for the foreseeable future". See the KDE wiki for a list of major user-facing changes, and the changelog for all changes s