The last LTS before a Canonical float in 2023?
Canonical has finally pushed “go” on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, making the Linux distribution generally available and a handy update for careful users still running 20.04 LTS. Ubuntu’s last Long Term Support (LTS) edition was 2020’s Focal Fossa (20.04), which will stay on standard support until April 2025 and eventually shuffle past End of Life in April 2030. Two years on and Jammy Jellyfish has arrived, bringing with it plenty of visual improvements as well as tweaks under the hood. Cosmetically, the default desktop wallpaper reflects the latest witty Ubuntu product name and the product’s new logo is present and correct. However, those upgrading from 20.04 LTS will find a number of changes to the environment; as well as accent colors that are easier to set and inevitable dark mode enhancements, the arrival of GNOME 42 (and its screenshotting improvements) have made for a slicker, if not revolutionary, desktop appearance. Missing, however, is the new Flutter-based installer. During a briefing Oliver Smith, product manager for Ubuntu Desktop, said “the timing didn’t quite work out for this release” and noted that while development has gone “really well,” confidence levels were not high enough to put the code on something the company was going to have to support for five years.
