Elementary OS 0.4 Beta "Loki" Now Available

A new version of the popular Elementary OS is now available. A variant of Ubuntu, Elementary OS is a Linux distribution that uses the Pantheon desktop. The newest release, nicknamed Loki, is based on Ubuntu 16.04 and as such, gets Gtk 3.18, Vala 0.32, and a more current Linux 4.4 kernel.

Here are some screenshots from this release:

For a full summary of the changes in this new upcoming release, check out the release announcement.

As with all new beta releases, there are bugs. Here are the main ones that are known at this time:

• Applications menu search is ignoring keywords
• Media keys do not show responsive confirmation notifications
• Region around notifications can become unclickable
• Not all online accounts services present are integrated
• Packagekitd sometimes takes 100% CPU
• Some regressions in the displays plug for multi-display users

Personally, I am not sure that I'm fond of a particular change in this release, namely the exclusion of a default app for handling .DEB files. As mentioned within the release notes however, the logic behind this decision is as follows:

No Unsafe Software Sources

In the interest of promoting secure software installation methods, as of this release there is no default app for handling .deb packages and the command line tool add-apt-repository is not available by default. These tools are available to install from the default repos, but the stance going forward is that software should come from vetted, secure sources or in sandboxed package formats. If you’re worried about how users will be able to get and install your apps, don’t panic! We’ll have a follow up announcement soon.

Interested in trying it out? You can grab the beta from here: https://elementary.io/developer

What are your thoughts on the teams decision? Do you agree? Disagree?