ownCloud, through Klaas Freitag, has announced the immediate availability for download and testing of the first Release Candidate (RC) version of the forthcoming ownCloud Client 1.8 for all supported computer operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

The most important feature of ownCloud Client 1.8 will be support for sharing files from the desktop, as the new version will integrate further with your desktop environment, no matter the operating system used, allowing you to share files directly from your desktop.

At the moment, it works with the Nautilus file manager on Linux distributions, Finder on Mac OS X, and with Windows’ explorer. The new desktop sharing functionality supports public links with password enforcement.

“I am happy to announce the availability of ownCloud Client 1.8.0 release candidate 1 (rc1). The release candidate will be only available for a short testing period before it becomes the final 1.8.0 release. We plan that for next week unless we see severe problems,” says Klaas Freitag in the release announcement.

ownCloud 1.8 offers HiDPI (High Dots Per Inch) support for Mac OS X

This release also brings HiDPI (High Dots Per Inch) support for the Mac OS X operating system, support for Qt 5.4, dropping the libneon library dependency, initial support for multiple accounts, better file change detection, selective sync support for the command-line tool, direct download support, and reorganized source repository.

In addition to the above, ownCloud 1.8 will use Mac OS X’s notification system to notify users about file changes and other events, adds better support for parallel HTTP requests when interacting with ownCloud 8 servers, fixes SQLite database issues with FAT file systems, and better support for window managers that don’t have a system tray area. Download ownCloud 1.8.0 RC1 for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows right now from Softpedia, but keep in mind that it’s an unstable release.