System76 Now Planning For COSMIC Desktop Alpha Release In Late May

System76 had been planning an initial alpha release of their Rust-written COSMIC desktop environment to debut at the end of Q1 (March), but now they are delaying the first alpha to May for allowing time to wrap up feature work on their new desktop apps.

Initially System76 was going to ship their first COSMIC alpha release with the GNOME apps as found on Pop!_OS 22.04, but instead with good progress being made on their COSMIC apps, they are going to delay that alpha release by two months so their apps will be in better shape.

System76 is making good progress on their terminal editor, text editor, file manager, and application store. While the first of at least two alphas is delayed, System76 is still aiming for the COSMIC desktop stable release this year alongside Pop!_OS 24.04 that is to be built off Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

COSMIC developers recently wrapped up work on hybrid graphics support, minimize and restore of windows, new wallpapers, the tiling applet, and input device settings. Much of their COSMIC work ahead is on the app side, icons, and other UI work.

More details as to the current state of this open-source Rust desktop can be found via the System76 blog.