elementary OS is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Linux distributions . Just a month prior, we saw the release of elementary OS 7.1 that focused on the privacy side of things.
With a recent announcement, we now have a better look at what's in store for the next upgrade, elementary OS 8.
And, it looks like this time, we could get the next elementary OS release a bit early.
Let's dive in! 🤓
elementary OS 8: An Ambitious Effort
The developers of elementary OS have now shifted their focus towards developing the OS 8 series, they are expecting a considerable amount of architectural changes and transitions with this.
According to elementary OS 8's roadmap, this major version is being built from the repositories for Ubuntu 24.04, and as things stand right now, OS 8 won't be released at least until April 2024.
They also added that they have planned on a number of very ambitious goals, with hopes that they will be able to complete the work in the next 6 months. But, they intend to release OS 8 only when it's ready.
Let's discuss some of those goals.
The first one is the transition to Wayland by default, this is not a surprise, as we are seeing an upwards trend of its adoption by many major distros. Then there's the continuation of the GTK 4 transition, with various core apps being in the final stages of development.
Other than that, they are in the early stages of designing a new Quick Settings menu, and they have also mentioned that this release will feature some of the largest changes to the design of their desktop environment, Pantheon.
After reading the above, a question arises; what will happen to elementary OS 7?
The developers have mentioned that users who are running OS 7 should expect fewer updates from this point onwards, they feel that the OS 7 series is largely complete.
However, all apps that are provided as Flatpak packages will continue to receive updates regularly, this also includes many core apps of elementary OS.
For more details, you can refer to the official announcement, and if you are curious about the progress on elementary OS 8, you can keep an eye out on its GitHub project board.
Want to try an early build of elementary OS 8?
Well, experimental builds based on the Ubuntu 24.04 repositories are available to download right now! Keep in mind, that for getting access, you have to be a GitHub sponsor.
Head over to the official builds website to get started.
💬 Are you excited about this? Let me know of your thoughts below!
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