Cutefish OS, a new Linux distro, broke onto the scene in September 2021, seeking its place among the Linux distributions with the best user-friendly desktop experience. There are already proven names like elementary OS, Zorin OS, Deepin, etc.
However, the distribution found a way to stand out from the rest by providing its developed desktop environment, CutefishDE, based on the QT framework.
The developers of Cutefish OS set out to create a desktop environment that felt as close to macOS as possible, and to a large extent, they succeeded.
The attention to detail is evident, and the overall experience working with the desktop environment is excellent. The distribution is available in two flavors: Ubuntu-based and Debian-based.
Unfortunately, Cutefish OS has never been able to release a stable version. The most recent is Cutefish OS 0.8 Beta, released on January 30, 2022.
However, there have been growing concerns among Linux users recently that the Cutefish OS project has been practically discontinued. Several circumstances cause these worries.
First, a quick look at the project’s GitHub repository shows that the Linux distribution has seen almost no active development in the last two months. Furthermore, Reddit users have reported that their emails go unanswered when they try to contact the Cutefish OS developers
It is assumed that future distribution development has been stopped due to a lack of funding. Unfortunately, this has always been one of the main reasons that otherwise promising open-source projects have been stalled.
However, the reaction to these concerns has been lightning. In the traditional Open Source manner, there are currently proposals to clone the project and to build a new team to continue its development.
First, of course, we must clarify that, for the time being, all of this is still at the preliminary stage of opinion probing, and no actual steps have been made.
Unfortunately, the lack of an official statement from Cutefish’s developers makes things somewhat unpredictable. However, we hope to see more clarity on the subject in the coming days.
Finally, we want to emphasize that it would be a pity the Linux community lost such a promising and gorgeous desktop as Cutefish OS. So, all we can do now is wait and hope for the best.
