Software Update: elementary OS 5.0

Elementary OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, which aims to provide a consistent and simple desktop environment with Pantheon. It uses the long-term support releases of Ubuntu. Elementary’s development team has lightened the version numbering knocked over and jumps from 0.4.1 to 5.0 to indicate the maturity of the operating system and this fifth release. The announcement is too long to be listed here in its entirety. It starts like this:

elementary OS 5 Juno is Here

elementary OS is the fast, open, and privacy-respecting alternative to Windows and macOS. Over the past year we’ve been hard at work putting together a new major version of elementary OS, codenamed Juno. It is the culmination of a ton of updates and improvements with three major goals:

Today we’re proud to officially release elementary OS 5.

Majorly Updated Apps

elementary OS is made up of two main parts: the “desktop” which includes the core user experience, look and feel, and system pieces; and the apps that come with the OS out of the box. elementary OS 5 Juno includes major updates across several of these core apps.

AppCenter: the Open, Pay-What-You-Want App Store

AppCenter is our built-in app store where users can download free and paid apps that are purpose-built for elementary OS. With AppCenter we’re doing things a bit differently from our competitors. First, every single app in AppCenter is open source because we firmly believe in the world-changing power of freely-licensed code and open source software. Second, all paid apps are offered with a developer-provided suggested price, but are ultimately pay-what-you-want. Users choose what to pay — if anything at all — when they download paid apps.

We use a pay-what-you-want model because it makes it incredibly easy for those who want and are able to fund development to do so, while keeping things accessible for individuals or organizations where the costs might be prohibitive. Our goal is a sustainable open source ecosystem of quality apps that people love.