What should you expect from elementary OS? Is it still around? I answer some of those questions here.

elementary OS may not be as much as popular as it used to be.

That being said, elementary OS 8 release is still on the horizon with some useful changes based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

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However, amidst disagreement between co-founders during the pandemic in 2022, co-founder Cassidy quit the elementary OS team.

Right after that, the development pace took a big hit, and we saw elementary OS 7 being released almost a year after Ubuntu 22.04 LTS came up.

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A good indicator about its development activity is its upcoming major release, elementary OS 8, based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

I took a sneak peek at it using the daily build, and elementary OS 8 is almost ready to have an RC release.

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You can expect things like:

  • The settings app handles system updates (instead of AppCenter)
  • AppCenter is now Flatpak only
  • New toggle menu icon giving you easy access to the screen reader, onscreen keyboard, font size, and other system settings
  • WireGuard VPN support
  • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
    12·
    8 days ago

    I don’t really think that’s fair. I agree with your suggestion that it should be a multiplatform DE rather than just its own distro but I think having polished and design opinionated distros is important. I know a few Mac guys who have become interested in Linux when they heard about ElementaryOS.

    I get that a lot of people hate on GNOME too for being annoying to customise and being highly opinionated but I think that’s the key to getting the average person interested in Linux. The average person just wants their desktop to look nice out of the box and maybe offer a dark mode. Anything more than that gets too complicated.

    Edit: and yeah having access to programs like the MS apps is important but it’s not like that has to come before having an appealing desktop

    • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      I get that a lot of people hate on GNOME too for being annoying to customise and being highly opinionated but I think that’s the key to getting the average person interested in Linux.

      I agree with this ideia, however GNOME lacks desktop icons and forces people into an activities view - all stuff that said average people don’t want to deal with. GNOME isn’t already dominating the DE space, and we still have other DEs, because of their poor decisions based on a “vision” that revolves around reinventing the wheel ever 2 years or so.

      and yeah having access to programs like the MS apps is important but it’s not like that has to come before having an appealing desktop

      This is one of the major hurdles with Linux desktop and the Steam Deck just confirmed it. People like the ones you’re talking about require software, be it Adobe, MS Office, Autodesk or some other and without it there’s no way they’re going to move. Alternatives may work for some isolated people but if you’re collaborating with people that expect those proprietary formats it won’t just work out.