System76 Skips Pop!_OS 22.10 to Focus on COSMIC Desktop
In a move that is sure to raise some eyebrows, System76 has chosen to concentrate on COSMIC Desktop instead of staying in step with Ubuntu releases.
The next release of Ubuntu is due any time now. That version is 22.10 which highlights the GNOME 43 desktop environment. Since Pop!_OS began, it has followed the Ubuntu release schedule very closely, which makes perfect sense, given the OS is based on Canonical's desktop operating system.
But with the release of Ubuntu 22.10 comes a big shift for System76. Instead of bothering with remaining in lockstep with Canonical, the company has decided to focus all of its efforts and get its new, in-house, Rust-based desktop environment ready for the masses. That environment is COSMIC Desktop and it makes perfect sense for System76 to take this step.
In the Reddit r/pop_os group, System76 developer Michael Aaron Murphy stated, “We are going to focus our development time onto the Rust implementation of COSMIC instead of 22.10. It takes a lot of effort to support multiple releases of Ubuntu, and the 6 month release cycle really eats into development time and stability of the product.”
For those who are concerned that Pop!_OS will then fall behind the curve, remember the current release is an LTS (Long Term Support), so there's no worry Pop!_OS will all of a sudden become unreliable or insecure.
One thing that is uncertain (according to Murphy) is whether or not System76 will also skip the 23.04 and 23.10 releases. To that, Murphy says it's a decision that will be made “when we get there.”
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