System76, the company behind the Linux distribution Pop!_OS, has officially released the desktop environment COSMIC 1.8.0. This update is now available in the distribution kit Pop!_OS 24.04 and will soon be integrated into other popular distributions like Fedora, NixOS, Arch Linux, openSUSE, Aeyrin OS, Redox, and CachyOS. The development of COSMIC focuses on being a universal project that adheres to Freedesktop specifications. The code is written in Rust and is distributed under the GPLv3 (applications) and MPL-2.0 (libraries) licenses.
COSMIC employs the Iced library to build its interface, utilizing reactive programming and offering familiar architectural concepts to developers proficient in Elm. The platform provides multiple rendering engines, supports various graphics APIs, and offers a range of features for developers, such as ready-made widgets, asynchronous handlers, and adaptive layout for interface elements based on window and screen sizes.
Aside from its use of the Rust language, COSMIC introduces innovative features like hybrid mosaic window