. ▁At ▁the ▁time , ▁he ▁was ▁trouble d ▁by ▁certain ▁aspects ▁of ▁the ▁Unix ▁desktop . ▁Among ▁his ▁qual ms ▁was ▁that ▁none ▁of ▁the ▁applications ▁looked , ▁felt , ▁or ▁worked ▁al ike . ▁He ▁proposed ▁the ▁formation ▁of ▁not ▁only ▁a ▁set ▁of ▁applications , ▁but , ▁rather , ▁a ▁desktop ▁environment , ▁in ▁which ▁users ▁could ▁expect ▁things ▁to ▁look , ▁feel ▁and ▁work ▁consist ently . ▁He ▁also ▁wanted ▁to ▁make ▁this ▁desktop ▁easy ▁to ▁use ; ▁one ▁of ▁his ▁compla ints ▁with ▁desktop ▁applications ▁of ▁the ▁time ▁was ▁that ▁his ▁girl friend ▁could ▁not ▁use ▁them . ▁His ▁initial ▁U sen et ▁post ▁sp ur red ▁a ▁lot ▁of ▁interest , ▁and ▁the ▁K DE ▁project ▁was ▁born . ▁ ▁Et tr ich ▁chose ▁to ▁use ▁T roll tech ' s ▁Qt ▁framework ▁for ▁the ▁K DE ▁project . ▁Other ▁program mers ▁quickly ▁started ▁developing ▁K DE / Qt ▁applications , ▁and ▁by ▁early ▁ 1 9 9 7 , ▁a ▁few ▁applications ▁were ▁being ▁released . ▁ ▁First ▁series ▁ ▁On ▁ 1 2 ▁July ▁ 1 9 9 8 , ▁K ▁Des ktop ▁Environment ▁ 1 . 0 ▁was ▁released . ▁In ▁November ▁ 1 9 9 8 , ▁the ▁Qt ▁tool kit ▁was ▁dual - lic ensed ▁under ▁the ▁free / open ▁source ▁Q ▁Public ▁License ▁( Q PL ) ▁and ▁a ▁propriet ary ▁license ▁for ▁propriet ary ▁software ▁developers . ▁Deb ate ▁continued ▁about ▁compatibility ▁with ▁the ▁GNU ▁General ▁Public ▁License ▁( G