Lately, it seems that one in two news stories mentioning Firefox is to report something bad. Bad for users or bad for them, but bad. In April Canonical released Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and the rest of the official flavors and they all switched to using Firefox as a snap. Not everything has to be so good when the same company has had to report that they are working to make things better. As if that were not enough, Mozilla is growing dwarfs, and Linux Lite 6.0 it won't even use it by default.
This is one of the novelties of v6.0 of this «light Linux», and I don't think the chosen option is the one that many users find most enjoyable. They have switched to using Chrome, but not an open source version detached from Google like Brave, not even a browser with 4% closed source like Vivaldi, but Google's, the one that, if they want, activates functions like Topics.
Highlights of Linux Lite 6.0
- Linux 5.15.
- Based on Ubuntu 22.04.
- New windows theme called Matter. It maintains a look that will be familiar to Linux Lite users, but it will be regularly maintained and supports GTK 2, 3, 4, GNOME Shell, Budgie, Cinnamon, MATE, Chrome themes… It is available in light and dark themes.
- Accessibility improvements including an on-screen keyboard, a screen reader (Orca), or a magnifying glass.
- New GRUB menu, and Memtest no longer appears in it.
- Updated packages such as LibreOffice 7.2.7.2, Thunderbird 91.9.1, VLC 3.0.16, GIMP 2.10.30, new Whisker Menu and bug fixes.
- Google Chrome becomes the new default browser. According to Jerry:
Now that Firefox comes as an Ubuntu Snap package, and Windows users need to manage as few package managers as possible, Chrome was the obvious replacement. Huge market share, familiarity with Windows, just about everything you throw at it works, all backed by a little-known company called Google. Web browsers are very subjective, everyone has their favorite and everyone has an opinion. You can't please everyone, but what we can do is focus on our target audience and that's exactly what we've done. We also include a built-in virus scanner in Chrome provided by Virus Total (off by default). Now Chrome will ask you if you want a file to be scanned before opening it. To activate this feature, simply activate it in Chrome extensions.
A matter of tastes and priorities
In my opinion as a user, I understand that if this distribution is based on Ubuntu and Firefox is no longer offered in its classic version, they have had to make a move, but has it been the best move? Maybe not. Other projects, like Linux Mint, compile Chromium so that users can use it without installing its snap package, and if I chose an option with the same engine, I think Brave would have been a better choice. But hey, a matter of taste and opinion.
Interested users can download the Linux Lite 6.0 ISO by clicking the following button: