The release of System76’s COSMIC desktop environment, which is still in development, is expected to be one of the most important 2024 events in the Open-Source ecosystem.
The reason is simpleโno matter what is said, the phrase that has been around for nearly two decades, “The two leading desktop environments, KDE and GNOMEโฆ” may change and henceforth be “The three leading desktop environments, KDE, GNOME, and COSMICโฆ“
The expectations are huge and not without reason. First, we’re talking about a desktop environment written from scratchโsomething that hasn’t happened in a very, very long time, making it truly one of a kind.
Secondly, this is not a hobby project but one with a company behind it that has invested enough resources, blood, and sweat into it. This gives every reason to believe that COSMIC is here to stay and thrive.
So, it is no surprise to anyone that the leading Linux distributions are expected to quickly adopt the new desktop environment, adding COSMIC to their official flavors list to meet user expectations. This is exactly the case with one of them, Fedora.
In an informal discussion at X, following a question from a user, Carl Richell, the CEO and Founder of System76 hinted that Fedora 42, slated for release in late April 2025, might officially include a COSMIC Spin.
All we can say is that we are very excited about it. As mentioned above, several other major Linux distributions are expected to take a similar approach.
However, we want to clarify that this information is very preliminary. So far, neither side has made any official moves or announcements about this matter. But the most logical thing is to happen.
For the leading rolling release distros like Arch, openSUSE Tumbleweed, Void, and others, we expect the new COSMIC desktop environment to be available in their repositories shortly after its first stable release. In fact, you can already install pre-release versions right now.
Finally, hereโs something you wonโt want to miss! Just a reminder that the first official alpha version of COSMIC is set to be released to mass public on August 8th, only a week away.
As usual, we’ll thoroughly review all its features, so make sure to watch our upcoming posts. We assure you, it’s worth it!
