A few days after releasing a new version, Ubuntu begins to publish images of the next one. At the beginning they differ little from the current one, but some anxious ones do not care and we install it anyway because we like to see the way it evolves. I've been using Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa since the end of last year as the main distribution (which is not recommended unless you have another backup operating system) and the result has been very good.
Please note that this is a description of my personal experience and not an enumeration of characteristics.
If my compatriot Jorge Luis Borges lived and knew Linux, he would surely describe this new version of Ubuntu by adapting the phrase from one of his poems; "Ubuntu found its gnomican destiny." I'm not exactly a fan of this desktop, but admittedly the phased integration faced by Canonical when it decided to leave Unity, it was an excellent decision.
Four months with Focal Fossa. My impressions
The first change is noticed during installation media startup. The screen shows an integrity check of the files that you will warn if it was not recorded correctly. Anyway, charging is really fast.
The installation procedure does not vary much. We can opt for a minimal or complete installation. And if we select it, the proprietary drivers available will be installed.
There is a detail with the installer. Except for Lubuntu that uses Calamares (the same as Manjaro or KDE Neon) the rest of the Ubuntu versions come with the traditional Ubiquity. At least in my case, it takes Ubiquity its good 3 minutes to go from the installation type selection screen to the partition type. All these years I thought that the installation would stop and that you had to mount and dismount the drives several times to make it work. I even reported the bug. However, in Calamares this delay does not occur.
But, in favor of Ubiquity, it must be recognized that its partition editor is much better.
When you first start the operating system, you are faced with the redesigned lock screen. When the desk opens, you will see the pit looking at you askance. The classic welcome app is shown below. Remember that as it is an extended support version you can activate LivePatch, the security update installation service that does not require a reboot.
Years ago I gave up understanding what is the criteria with which the characteristics of each version of Ubuntu are decided. One of my hypotheses includes Mark Shuttleworth and the cheapest of Dia %'s whiskey bottles. I must acknowledge however that the decision that Ubuntu Software Center was installed in Snap format while calculator was reinstalled as a normal package, it turned out better than expected.
The calculator took a long time to start, while the GNOME Software Center was downright unusable. Its search engine almost never worked, it showed duplicate applications or it could not find what it was looking for. Everything changed completely.
Contrary to what many of us feared, The application store starts immediately, after a few seconds the application catalog is loaded (in which the snap versions of the packages that have it are shown by default) and the search engine finds.
They may correct it, but this modification makes it impossible to use the Software Center to view and install packages in Flatpak format.
If it is to modify the appearance of the desktop, it is still incomprehensible that the GNOME tweak tool is not included among the pre-installed ones. Anyway, in the configuration tool we now have the possibility to choose the traditional mode, a lighter or a darker mode from the control panel. If you are looking for an authentic GNOME experience you can use the application Extensions to make the side launcher disappear.
There are some details to correct in the internationalization issue. As I said before, By default, the versions of the programs are shown in snap format. But, its description is not usually in Spanish. On the other hand, automated bug reports are now done in the installation language. This makes it difficult for developers to review.
One issue you have to keep in mind is that it is no longer provided Python 2 support. Some apps that you install manually may no longer work. Or you may have to replace in the launch command python by python3.
Personally, I don't like GNOME and from the 23rd I'll switch to Ubuntu Budgie, but I have to admit that Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa is the best Ubuntu release in several years. If you left it a long time ago, it is a good time to return.
Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa will be available from April 23 at this page.