Canonical Reviving Their Immutable Ubuntu Core Desktop

Canonical engineers back in 2023 outlined plans for Ubuntu Core Desktop as their immutable Linux desktop. They made some good initial progress but since 2024 it went rather silent. Now they are reviving Ubuntu Core Desktop as their immutable desktop OS offering and with grand plans for the future. Jon Seager, the VP of Engineering at Canonical, shared the plans today for accelerating Ubuntu Core Desktop development while acknowledging their 2023 preview of it "fell short" of their vision. For the Ubuntu 27.04 cycle, they will focus more on Ubuntu Core Desktop and target three use-cases of browser centric machines, developer workstations, and gaming machines. Key challenges expressed to the Ubuntu Core Desktop come down to application availability with what's offered in Snap form being one of their main blockers. This application availability is also why they are initially targeting the three use-cases. Other key challenges include around modularizing the desktop, dealing with permission prompting, and supporting KDE Plasma well in addition to GNOME. They recently established a new Ubuntu Core Desktop team at Canonical to revive their 2023 preview and getting pipelines re-established for producing the immutable images and understanding the current state. Daily images of Ubuntu Core Desktop are expected during the Ubuntu 27.04 cycle. Seager ended today's announcement with: "Ubuntu Desktop in its present form is not going away. However, this might be the most exciting thing I’ve been able to announce since taking the lead of Ubuntu. I’ve believed that Ubuntu Core is the future of Ubuntu for some time, but we’ve not been in a position to execute on the Desktop part of that. We have a long road ahead of us, and a lot of technical challenges to overcome, but the result will be a safer, more resilient, more trustworthy and future-proof Ubuntu that I think you’ll have a blast using. My long-term mission is to make Ubuntu Core the de facto target for Linux applications and workflows, and the default Ubuntu experience on the desktop, in the data centre and at the edge, and pushing the desktop agenda will further all of these use cases." All the details in full can be read over on the Ubuntu Discourse.