Ubuntu 26.04 surprised me - this upcoming release is seriously secure

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaway

Ubuntu 26.04 volition beryllium disposable for escaped successful April.
There are tons of further information features and GNOME 50.
This latest merchandise looks and feels precise overmuch similar erstwhile editions.

If you've spent immoderate clip speechmaking about, proceeding about, oregon utilizing Linux, past you cognize that Ubuntu is 1 of the astir fashionable distributions connected the market.

Ubuntu has a precise predictable merchandise rhythm that looks similar this:

.04 releases get successful April
.10 releases get successful October

This happens similar clockwork and makes it casual to hole for the merchandise (or conscionable get excited astir it). Few operating systems run with specified regularity.

Also: 10 things I ever bash aft installing Ubuntu to instantly amended the experience

This April, the adjacent .04 merchandise volition beryllium unleashed, and it takes information seriously. You tin get a heavy dive connected what that means from my esteemed colleague, Steven Vaughan-Nichols, successful his article, "Inside Canonical's program to marque Ubuntu 26.04 the Linux desktop that yet goes mainstream."

I kicked the tires of the latest regular physique of Ubuntu 26.04, and my archetypal content was, "Yep, this is Ubuntu." It wasn't until I dug a spot deeper that I realized this is really a beauteous important release.

What are the stand-out features of this distribution?

Ubuntu 26.04 has respective notable features that travel unneurotic to marque this a peculiar distribution. Those features include:

GNOME 50 - The large woody astir this merchandise of the fashionable desktop situation is that it yet shrugs disconnected the past vestiges of X11 from the halfway components (such arsenic Mutter and GNOME Shell). That means starting with this release, Ubuntu is strictly a Wayland-only distribution.
A Rust-y halfway - Ubuntu 26.04 adopts immoderate memory-safe Rust implementations, specified arsenic sudo-rs (which offers amended representation safety, improved mistake messages, and amended codification management) and utils/core utils (new Rust-based halfway utilities specified arsenic cp, ls, mv, cp, and more).
Enhancements to Wayland - Wayland has been enhanced successful 26.04 with Mutter patches that amended show with Nvidia GPUs to dramatically trim blocked framework clip (the duration during which the main thread of a programme is incapable to respond to high-priority tasks).
amd64v3 - Optional packages variants volition beryllium disposable for caller CPUs for improved performance.
Unified Software Management - The Ubuntu App Store (aka GNOME Software) volition present beryllium utilized for the absorption of each bundle formats, specified arsenic DEB, Snap, and Flatpak.
AMD ROCm autochthonal packages - 26.04 volition supply autochthonal ROCm packages to simplify AMD GPU setup for AI and instrumentality learning.

How challenging is it to install?

If you've ever installed Ubuntu, you recognize however casual this operating strategy is to install. I would spell truthful acold arsenic to accidental that the Ubuntu installer (Ubiquity) is the easiest of immoderate operating strategy available.

Also: The easiest mode to effort retired Ubuntu Linux

This latest merchandise of Ubuntu doesn't alteration the installation process. It's akin to astir modern versions of the distribution, truthful it's a point-and-click matter that anyone tin handle.

What are the benefits of utilizing this distribution?

First, Ubuntu 26.04 is each astir improved security. Starting with Ubuntu 25.10, TPM-backed FED (Trusted Platform Module-backed Federal Employee Digital Identity) reached wide availability. TPM-backed FED serves to support delicate data. It besides ensures unafraid authentication by isolating captious accusation from imaginable threats. For Ubuntu 26.04, determination volition beryllium caller features based connected this, specified arsenic the quality to add/remove PIN/password aft installation and re-encrypt a disk straight from the Security Center app.

And past there's present autochthonal enactment for Intel Trust Domain Extensions for much secure, isolated virtual machines that usage AES-128 hardware encryption.

There's besides an updated mentation of OpenSSH and OpenSSL that includes hybrid post-quantum algorithms.

That's a lot. But what astir caller features that straight impact however Ubuntu is used?

Also: I rescued my dying 2017 MacBook Pro with Ubuntu and it works similar a charm (mostly)

One of the biggest user-facing changes involves Snap applications. Ubuntu 26.04 includes a much granular permissions model that volition punctual users whenever a Snap exertion attempts to entree things similar hardware features oregon definite locations wrong the filesystem hierarchy.

What benignant of idiosyncratic is this organisation champion suited for?

Any treatment astir Ubuntu Linux ever turns to user-friendliness, and 26.04 doesn't marque overmuch alteration successful that arena. Although immoderate would reason the Ubuntu instrumentality connected GNOME isn't precisely designed for those migrating from Windows oregon MacOS, it's inactive casual to use. The trouble lies successful knowing wherever to click to entree the Application Overview.

Click the Ubuntu logo astatine the bottommost near corner, and you'll spot each of the installed applications. Yes, it's a displacement from the accepted desktop metaphor, but truthful are the Android and iOS UI, and if radical tin marque the displacement to those mobile interfaces, they tin get up to velocity connected the Ubuntu desktop arsenic easily.

As acold arsenic who Ubuntu 26.04 is champion suited for, I would person to accidental conscionable astir anyone. If you're looking to trial the waters of Linux, you cannot spell incorrect with Ubuntu, and 26.04 sticks with what has worked for iteration aft iteration.

My instrumentality connected Ubuntu 26.04

If I had to sum up Ubuntu 26.04, I would person to punctuation instrumentalist David Byrne and accidental that it's the aforesaid arsenic it ever was… and that's not a atrocious thing. Sure, determination are a batch of under-the-hood changes that the idiosyncratic won't notice, but those changes (along with the user-facing additions) travel unneurotic to marque a superb Linux distribution.

Also: 8 ways to support your privateness connected Linux and support your information safe

On the surface, Ubuntu 26.04 looks precise overmuch similar 24.04, which looked precise overmuch similar 22.04. That breeds familiarity, which should marque users consciousness close astatine home.

Unfortunately, if you're looking for major, user-facing changes, you'll beryllium disappointed. If, connected the different hand, you privation an operating strategy that conscionable works, Ubuntu 26.04 volition beryllium close up your alley.

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