Ubuntu Core Desktop will not be released alongside Ubuntu 24.04 LTS in April, as originally hoped.
For those thinking “wait, what?!” — last year Canonical announced it was building an all-snap, immutable version of Ubuntu for home users called Ubuntu Core Desktop.
Further, it was aiming to make the first version available to download in April of this year, alongside the regular Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release.
It wasn’t going to be default, more of a formal, public preview release.
But those plans have changed:
[Ubuntu Core Desktop] won’t be released by 24.04, and unfortunately, I can’t provide a date until we’ve worked through issues that need resolution – we want the user experience to be excellent and that’s going to take time.
Tim Holmes-Mittra, Canonical
Canonical doesn’t go into details about what specific issues need resolving. One imagines, given that the first Ubuntu Core Desktop release was going to be a preview and not a recommended download, it’s a myriad of bugs/difficulties — ones not easily sorted.
Which I think any reasonable person would expect, right?
Undertaking the task of creating a stable, snap-based Ubuntu desktop was bound to present numerous challenges. It was nearly certain that issues and hurdles would crop up throughout the process. It would have been more surprising if they didn’t!
I’ve tested the developmental versions of the Ubuntu Core Desktop on multiple occasions — I actually wrote a tutorial last June on where to find these images, for those who are interested — and it appears that progress is being made at a rapid pace. The overall user experience as it is is impressively functional – it’s not yet perfect, but it’s certainly heading in the right direction.
However, there definitely exists scope for enhancements, particularly when it comes to dealing with use cases that aren’t covered out-of-the-box.
I thought I’d share this news about a possible (and hopefully short-term) hold-up.
Thanks Kamen