14 DAY TRIAL // The upcoming Kubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) release will include the next version of Plasma, which will make for a very interesting and different experience for fans of this distribution.
The KDE developers have been brewing a new Plasma desktop for some time now, but it's not ready yet for integration as a default solution. Kubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) was released only a couple of weeks ago and the developers chose to implement the older Plasma desktop, 4.14.x. There is still some life left in that version and it will receive another point update in the near future, but the support for that branch will end long before Kubuntu 15.04 is out.
Each time a major step is taken with a desktop environment, some resistance is always expected. This happened when KDE moved from 3.x to 4.x, and GNOME faced the same problems with the jump from 2.x to 3.x. Usually, the redesign is not welcomed with open arms by the entire community and you can be sure that some users won't be too happy with the way Plasma 5 actually looks.
Kubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) will be a very interesting release
You can say that the 14.10 launch was not exciting, but that won't happen with 15.04. It's pretty much a guarantee that Kubuntu 15.04 will be the subject of many discussions, especially after users will have had a chance to try the new desktop which, by the way, looks great and it's a true evolution. The more conservative users will hear nothing of it, threats will be made, and people will switch to other distros that still feature the old KDE 4.14.3 version.
"Kubuntu Vivid is the development name for what will be released in April next year as Kubuntu 15.04. The exiting news is that following some discussion and some wavering we will be switching to Plasma 5 by default. It has shown itself as a solid and reliable platform and it's time to show it off to the world. There are some bits which are missing from Plasma 5 and we hope to fill those in over the next six months."
"The other change that affects workflow is we're now using Debian git to store our packaging in a kubuntu branch so hopefully it'll be easier to share updates," says Jonathan Riddell, one of the Kubuntu developers and the project’s leader.
For now, users can download the Kubuntu 15.04 daily build, but the important changes haven't landed just yet, so there isn’t much to see. Also, it's quite unstable, so be careful with it.