COSMIC desktop is incredible, but its not ready yet
COSMIC desktop is incredible, but its not ready yet
https://www.howtogeek.com/cosmic-desktop-incredible-but-not-ready/
Publish Date: 2026-04-04 06:30:00
Source Domain: www.howtogeek.com
Linux has more than a dozen different desktop environments available, and a big part of what differentiates distros is how they choose to customize those desktop environments. POP!_OS used GNOME for most of its history, but in late 2025, they released an entirely new desktop environment called COSMIC.
I used it for a few days to see how it shaped up to classics like GNOME, Cinnamon, and KDE.
What is COSMIC?
A bold new desktop environment
COSMIC (Computer Operating System Main Interface Components) is the new desktop environment that System76 is developing for Pop!OS.
COSMIC was originally derived from the GNOME desktop environment, and if you put the two side by side, you can see GNOME’s influence on some of the design choices.
However, the similarities are fairly cosmetic. Once I started digging in, I found a desktop environment that was quite different.
There is Rust in COSMIC
Part of what makes COSMIC different and interesting in the long term, is the fact that it is written in Rust.
Rust is an object-oriented programming language that is increasingly positioned to be a replacement for C and C++. Microsoft has started using Rust for important parts of the Windows operating system, and they’re aiming to gradually transition over the next several years.
One of Rust’s big selling points as a programming language is that it is “memory safe,” which it achieves by…
