Elementary OS 0.3 Freyas is now available for download. The latest version of the GNU/Linux-based operating system has an updated user interface, a new multitasking view, and other improvements.

The team behind Elementary OS took some flak earlier this year for a perhaps poorly worded blog post suggesting that folks who use free and open source software without donating money are “cheating the system.”

elementary 03

Elementary OS is based on Ubuntu Linux, but it uses the Pantheon desktop environment instead of Unity (or KDE, GNOME, Xfce, or LXDE). In a nutshell that means Elementary OS can run most software developed for Ubuntu, but it looks a bit more like Apple’s OS X.

There’s a dock at the bottom of the screen as well as menus at the top of the screen.

Among other things, Elementary OS 0.3 adds support for UEFI, Applications menu improvements, a new firewall tool and “privacy mode,” dismissible and interactive notifications, a system-wide “do not disturb” mode, and improvements to apps including new calculator, camera, and video apps, a redesigned photos app, and support for online calendars including Google Calendar and the CalDAV standard.

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16 replies on “Elementary OS 0.3 Freya released”

  1. They should make a free version that spies on you. That way they get their money and you get a “free” operating system. After all, that’s what Google does with Android and lots of people seem OK with it.

    1. MS should release Windows source code.
      How do u know what’s lurking inside Windows?
      Yep, take a wild guess.

  2. A group of goddess worshippers putting out their best and expecting payment. Merchant’s at their best.

    I’m waiting for the Jesus revision. It’ll be free.

  3. I used to support elementary, but I can’t anymore. I feel like they inherently designed the site to be deceptive and appear as though the user needs to pay for the compiled project.

    I would respect them more if the download was a) clearly marked as free or b) payment was mandatory for the compiled project, but it was clear that a savvy user could compile from source.

    1. It’s an open-source project. Why the hostility when an open-source project is “promoted”?

      1. Oh, I’m not hostile towards open source, just Elementary OS. They feel they should be paid for everything they do, why wouldn’t they pay Brad for promoting it? If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.

        1. This site reports on many things that explicitly REQUIRE payment such hardware and proprietary software. They don’t have to pay a fee for inclusion because Liliputing is a news organization, not an advertising firm. 😛

          Also, being able to or having to pay to get an article written would make this site worthless as a news source because you’d just hear about the things that have large financial backing (or a desire to promote them) and newsworthiness would be irrelevant. :/ Fortunately, I have no fears of that happening anytime soon. 🙂

          EDIT: Added emoticons for tone.

          1. My comment was not in any way intended as a disparagement on Liliputing (one of my favourite websites and a trusted news source). It was solely a disparagement of Elementary, cheating the system by not paying.

          2. Yes, that is what I thought from reading your comment, but it is not clear from my comment that I understood that. Now that I read my comment, the tone comes across as rather angry when read as just text. I will add some emoticons to make it clearer that that was not the case. I added that second part not so much to respond to you but to state my reasons for anyone else who might read it. Liliputing is also one of my favorite websites and a trusted news source. I guess I’m cheating though for not paying to use it. 😛

      2. You must’ve missed the whole shebang when they said elementary OS users should really be paying them for their development otherwise their system is getting chrated. Clearly they don’t believe in the ways of the open source.

        1. One of the biggest misconceptions in software is that open source equals free… It’s just a core group of activists who really promote that ideal as the norm but there’s nothing stopping people making money off Open Source software… one way or another… and it’s not entirely free…

          It has just been up till now mostly a indirect business model, usually by providing some sort of service or other secondary benefit…

          Some early commercial open-source vendors like MySQL and JBoss were able to build decent businesses on top of a license/support-only business model but that business model has its limitation as often cash-strapped companies forced their developers to maintain software instead of outlaying more cash for supporting updates, etc. or subscription services like Red Hat offers…

          But, ever since 2009, there has been growing pressure for Open Source to include other business models, such as pay for software products, besides just optional donations to the developers… Steam for Linux at least partially covers this, albeit not all the coding used is necessarily all Open Source or all proprietary…

          Android is another example where Open Source and proprietary get mixed up, all of Google’s apps are proprietary and that’s how Google maintains tight control over the Android market by locking vendors into their app and service ecosystem… along with indirect revenue sources like ads and every time you search with Google, etc.

          Google even makes money off Apple because of this, more than they do off Android in fact…

          But most Linux developers don’t have the resources of a rich company behind them and that’s more the reason for them to somehow gain financial support…

          A 2010 Survey indicates that about 65% of developers, who use the pay for support service model, make only around $100 or less annually on their open source projects and if desktop Linux is to ever gain more market share and offer better support to end users they’re going to need a much better business model than they have now, otherwise the only ones who really benefit are the companies that can afford to pay but average consumers will continue to get limited choices with developers who barely have more resources than the average hobbyist…

          There are alternatives like certain projects can have investors from big name companies that invest in Open Source code for one reason or another but that’s not something that applies to the whole Open Source market…

          While many companies also pay indirectly, about 67% of developers polled by Evans Data Corp reported that they spend some time developing open source software while at their primary job. This means that some portion of the salary paid to the developer is allocated to work not related to their job… but despite this resources for most Open Source projects have remained largely limited for years…

          Mind, that last one does make the free part similar to in free as in beer analogy… You may be able to get a lot free but nothing is really free and if we want anything better then eventually it’s going to need to be actually better funded and make it more than some part time project for some random developer…

          https://www.cio.com/article/2388344/open-source-tools/6-reasons-to-pay-for-open-source-software.html

          1. …right, still doesn’t make it okay for them to say that people are cheating the system by not paying them. There’s a difference between introducing a new business model to the open software standard and calling people out for not giving them money. They could’ve at least worded it differently.

          2. True, on that last part, but people with a cause aren’t always diplomatic about how they go about it…

            While people who can develop a OS don’t necessarily have other good skills like marketing, people skills, etc… Made worse by having no money to pay people who do…

            And first impressions are hard to get over…

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