The future of the Kubuntu OS is not certain

Jun 26, 2015 11:36 GMT  ·  By

The first Alpha for Kubuntu 15.10 was made available yesterday, but the announcement itself was overshadowed by a worrying statement from the developers. It looks like the future of Kubuntu, in the greater Ubuntu family, is uncertain.

Some of you might know that there is some friction between the Ubuntu and Kubuntu teams, including their respective councils. Just yesterday, Jonathan Riddell, long time developer of Kubuntu and a member of the Kubuntu Council has stepped down. From the looks of it, he remains a Kubuntu developer, but it's possible to see the project break away from Ubuntu. With the exception of a single comment made in the release announcement for Kubuntu 15.10 Alpha 1, nothing is known about their plans.

The problems started a while ago, and it's a complicated situation, but yesterday's announcement regarding the solution that has been found to reconcile the two communities seemed to put an end to the situation. On the other hand, the release announcement for Kubuntu is actually much more powerful than any declaration and shows the state of uncertainty that's still present.

Kubuntu 15.10 is going forward, for now

At least for now the Kubuntu developers will honor the release of the next 15.10 version of the operating system, but any plans that extend passed the October release of the operating system are in the air.

"The Kubuntu team are committed to releasing 15.10 in October. Updates, bug fixes and future releases are currently uncertain," reads the release notes. Coupled with a rather bored message from Jonathan on the official mailing list message that was calling for participants in the Alpha 1, which said "we'll try and find the energy to do some testing," doesn't paint a pretty picture.

At this point, no one is talking, but it's very likely that's going to change. In hindsight, yesterday's announcement from the Ubuntu Community Council that was saying Kubuntu is an integral part of the Ubuntu community is suddenly making a lot more sense.

We'll keep you up to date with any new information on the subject.