‘Pudgy’ might be more apt given the download size
The beta version of Ubuntu 25.04, the next interim release of this Linux OS, has arrived.
According to Canonical’s official schedule, the final release of Plucky Puffin is due in two weeks as we write – April 17. The Plucky beta appeared a little after that of Fedora 42, which we looked at in late March. Both projects sync their release cycles to the semi-annual release cycle of GNOME, which is their default desktop, but Ubuntu’s schedule is stricter – Fedora’s is more flexible, and a release is delayed if testing reveals problems.
This is an interim release of Ubuntu. Long-term releases appear only in even-numbered years, meaning that 25.04 will only be supported for nine months. In our testing, interim releases are usually completely fine and show no significant problems. The main difference is that you’ll have to upgrade much sooner. When upgrading, Fedora lets you skip a release to get current, but Ubuntu doesn’t. So, if you choose Plucky, you will need to update to October’s 25.10 release, and then next year to 26.04, which will be the next LTS.
Although it was only released a few days beforehand, this version uses kernel 6.14, thanks to Canonical’s policy of using fresher Linux kernels, introduced last August. The default desktop edition uses GNOME 48, which we looked at last month, so it will inherit the changes we reported then, such as tweaks to performance and hardware support, and the new digital-wellbeing settings.
