14 DAY TRIAL // Believe it or not, the Kubuntu project has finally decided to participate in the development cycle of the upcoming Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system, due for release on April 21, 2016.
Kubuntu 16.04 LTS Beta 2 is also the first milestone towards the final Kubuntu 16.04 release, and fans of the operating system can now download it and take it for a test drive to discover the new features that have been implemented in the last few months since the announcement of Kubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf).
But we bet that hardcore Kubuntu fans and early adopters are already using the Kubuntu 16.04 daily builds, and if they're up to date, there won't be any difference between them and today's Beta 2 release. As expected, Kubuntu 16.04 will also be an LTS (Long-Term Support) release.
"We are preparing Kubuntu Xenial Xerus (16.04 LTS) for distribution on April 21, 2016," reads today's announcement made by the Kubuntu developers. "Development of Kubuntu 16.04, the Xenial Xerus, is ongoing and bugs are fixed every day. Before reporting bugs, please ensure your system is up to date."
What's new in Kubuntu 16.04 LTS Beta 2
Release highlights of Kubuntu 16.04 LTS Beta 2 include the KDE Plasma 5.5.4 desktop environment, accompanied by the KDE Applications 15.12.1 software suite, and the latest KDE Framework 5 packages, despite the fact that KDE Plasma 5.6 and KDE Applications 15.12.3 are already available, so they might be offered as updates at a later time.
Some of the pre-installed applications have been updated to their latest versions at the moment of writing this article, and among the most popular ones, we can mention the LibreOffice 5.1 office suite and Firefox 45.0 web browser. You can download the 64-bit or 32-bit Live ISO images of Kubuntu 16.04 LTS Beta 2 right now from our website.
