Michael:
[0:00] This week in Linux is packed. It’s an extra long episode. So if you were wanting more and more TWIL, then you’re going to get it this week because Steam Summer Sale is here and it is torching bank accounts. Fedora developers are talking about getting rid of 32-bit support and there’s a little bit of controversy around that. We’re going to break all of that down. Also, Fairphone 6 has been announced and it comes with kernel patches, an upstream Linux kernel on day one. Firefox 140 has arrived as the new ESR, and there’s also some exciting news coming in the next release of Firefox as well. And later in the show, KDE’s Wayland wave is continuing to grow to about 70% of users these days. Kubuntu drops X11 by default, and KDE is working on a slick first run wizard. All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and open source world. Now let’s jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews.

Michael:
[1:05] This episode of TWIL is sponsored by Sandfly Security. More on them later. Valve has some great news because the Steam Summer Sale is live and they’re going to be going right after your bank account. So your wishlist can now come true while also decimating your bank account balance. There’s thousands of discounts available right now up until July 10th. So there’s two full weeks to splurge or resist if you can. Valve Summer Sale is the platform’s largest annual traffic spike. 2024’s event hit a record 33 million concurrent users. So expect servers and wallets to melt.

Michael:
[1:44] And Liam over at GamingOnLinux.com cherry-picked some Linux-friendly deals for you to check out. Here’s just a few from his list that I wanted to highlight. You can get Ultra Kill for under $15, which is a frenetic boomer shooter that runs great on the deck. Also, the Wreckfest, which is a physics-heavy demolition racing game. Outer Wilds is a BAFTA-winning time loop adventure game. And Power Wash Simulator is something that exists. It’s apparently oddly soothing, but I’ve never played it myself, So I don’t know, but it is on sale in the same summer sale for games under $5. You can get the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt because it is 80% discounted. And also Dying Light is 80% discounted, which is a parkour zombie chaos game, which looks pretty fun. Dishonored is 75% off, which is an immersive sim game. And there’s many, many more, including some industry games like the Sulaco.

Michael:
[2:46] Not sure if that’s how you say it, and also Cyber Knights Flashpoint and also Utopia Must Fall. All of these are discounted in the summer sale. For Liam’s full list, you can check the link in the show notes. These prices will stay to July 10th, like I said, so there’s no need to panic buy on day one, but you can get a lot of cool stuff in the summer sale. So which discounts wrecked your wallet?

Michael:
[3:09] Let me know by sharing your gaming haul in the comments. A very interesting discussion is happening over at Fedora, as some developers are wanting to axe the 32-bit i686 packages from the repos, which has some gamers sounding alarms. Steam could break, and the creator of Bazzite says the distro might fold if the proposal sticks the way it is. So let’s unpack all of this. But before we jump into the details, I just want to clarify something. This is not something that is being planned to do. This is merely a discussion. We’re talking about this because there is some misinformation going around saying that Fedora is doing this sort of thing and there’s no recourse or whatever. And I just want to make it clear for anyone who’s interested in this subject, this is a change proposal. And what that means is that simply someone is starting the conversation about an idea, not an announcement of what is happening. So nothing has been decided yet. They’re just having a conversation.

Michael:
[4:04] So now let’s talk about the details and what this could mean for Fedora and users. A Fedora developer has started a discussion via a change proposal that would stop building packages for i686 and remove multi-lib repos, arguing it’s better to start planning now than when CPython stops supporting 32-bit. He said also that we will need to drop support for 32-bit x86 at some point anyway. So that part is true. Eventually it will happen. So talking about it now makes sense. Although when it happens, that’s where the debate comes in. So the change right now would happen no earlier than fedora 44 and that gives about 11 months notice if it’s approved but there’s a lot of people discussing that it should be in a later version of fedora instead of 44 steam’s client and many proton / wine titles still pull 32-bit libraries and gaming on linux.com warns that the cut could be bad news for linux gamers and the The reason is that Steam depends on it still. And Steam client, it actually is a 32-bit application and there are arguments that it should be upgraded to 64-bit by now.

Michael:
[5:12] It is currently 32-bit, so there’s some issues there. But also as a quick reminder for those who are new to Linux or new to the show, we covered this in a previous episode because Ubuntu in 2019 were doing something somewhat similar, and they reversed course after Valve threatened to drop support for Ubuntu. It’s a little bit different because back then it was definitely not ready to drop support, and it was also a misunderstanding in some ways. So it’s a little bit different than that, but this is still somewhat similar. Fedora proposal mentions steam / wine as dependencies, but offers no concrete workarounds yet. And in terms of the initial statements, Kyle from Bazzite had a interesting comment saying that if this change is actually made, the best option for us would be to just go ahead and disband the project. So effectively, if this were to happen, then Bazzite would stop existing as a project, at least in the original terms of what was described in the change proposal. Bazzite uses Fedora Core OS to boot directly into GameScope session, and Flatpak Steam wouldn’t work for the use case because the GameScope does not work inside of the Flatpak version of Steam. In addition to this, there was a lot of concern by the users of Bazzite who were asking a lot if the project is going to go away. And this is, again, all just conversation. It’s just discussion about what could happen and what might happen. And it depends of like.

Michael:
[6:41] What these changes could result in so it’s not like they’re trying to break Bazzite or anything like that but reddit threads on linux gaming and r/linux hit the front page within hours of this happening so there’s a lot of discussion with commentators predicting.

Michael:
[6:56] Droves of linux gamers would be jumping off of fedora if this were to happen and cause a break of gaming well then that might happen but there’s also discussions about how these can be modified so that the entirety of the 32-bit is not gone, so that the gaming side of it would be kept and then certain pieces would be kept that make sense for the users, but not keeping everything because there’s a lot of stuff in there that people just don’t use and there’s no reason to maintain them. So that’s similar to what Ubuntu did back in 2019. They got rid of practically everything about 32-bit, but they kept the libraries that were required for gaming. So there’s that sort of way. so there are tactics to go and it’s not just instantly doom and gloom based on this. Now, here’s some possible paths forward. Wine’s 9.0 improved WoW 64 and also the 10.0 improved WoW 64 support.

Michael:
[7:51] Hinting that a future where 32-bit games can run on 64-bit hosts without multilib at some point, not yet, but at some point. Also, there’s the flat pack Steam, but again, it’s not necessarily officially supported by Valve and it also has the issues with game scope and other things. Also there’s potential for fewer i686 builds being used and then maybe purging them later once everything is good to go. In my opinion that seems like the best option. You can get rid of the most of the ones that are not being used by the vast majority of users and then keep the ones that are necessary until they’re no longer necessary and that would be good. But for For those who don’t know, the whole reason why they wanted to do this is because this is a huge…

Michael:
[8:37] A huge task that has to be done by the developers of the project of the distro so maintaining these packages is not a simple process of just like running a command and it working you have to make sure that everything is tested and working and all that sort of stuff so it is a lot of work and for the majority of the packages there’s no reason to make them exist now in terms of these gaming stuff yeah i would like to keep my games working but for the majority of the time you can just get rid of all that sort of stuff. So I think them doing what Ubuntu did, where they just kept the multi-libs for gaming and then got rid of pretty much everything else, I think that would be probably the best path, at least for now.

Michael:
[9:19] But we’ll have to wait and see what they decide on when it comes to this change proposal. Fairphone has just announced that they have a new version of the Fairphone with Fairphone 6, which is very cool. If you’re not familiar with the Fairphone, it’s a really cool modular style smartphone.

Michael:
[9:34] And it is also not just one of those super bulky, modular phones that are awkward to use. It looks nice. It’s well-designed and all that sort of stuff. And it’s also difficult to get if you’re in the U.S., which is a bummer for me. But if you’re not in the U.S., you can just pick it up wherever you want and all that sort of stuff. Anyway, so Fairphone 6 also has the Linux kernel patches landed the same day it launched, which is very cool and while that is true about the us thing thankfully marina is going to be shipping the fairphone 6 for those who would like to get it in the us so uh they did that for the fairphone 4 i don’t think the fairphone 5 ever was able to get in the us but you can do it with the fairphone 6 which is awesome so i am happy to see that so thanks to marina for that and if you are not in the us uh then it’s a little bit easier anyway but.

Michael:
[10:30] The Linux support patches have hit the Linux kernel mailing list the morning of the release, giving mainline kernels early device tree access, GPIO support, and power management support. The Fairphone 6 is going to be coming in at 599 euros, and it has a five-year warranty. Now, the prices might be different depending on where you’re from and the currency change, but this is really cool. And there’s also some tighter cooperation with PostMarket OS and other mainline Android GKI maintainers. So the hardware specs for the Fairphone 6 include Snapdragon 7S Gen 3, 8 gigabytes of RAM with 512 gigs of storage, which is expandable to two terabytes of storage. There’s also a 6.3 inch 120 Hertz OLED display. It’s got a 4415 milliamp hour battery and a 50 megapixel dual camera system that is headlining the spec sheet. Also, the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i. The chassis is rated for IP55 when it comes to dust and water protection, and it will be shipping with Android 15.

Michael:
[11:42] But kernel patches pave the way for long-term mainline Linux ports like PostmarketOS and other systems. Now, like I said, Marina with the EOS edition is going to provide a U.S. Debut, which is awesome. So the Fairphone 6 from Marina with EOS 3.0 is up for pre-order today. And for the first time, it’s going to be shipping with a United States access. Now, technically, the four…

Michael:
[12:10] But was already going to have it. But I don’t I think they were added after the fact after it was launched. And now this is going to be a the first time with the announcement of the launch of the Fairphone 6, you’re also going to get the option for United States support, which is fantastic. So thanks a lot to Marina for that. So for those who are not familiar with EOS, we talked about in a previous episode of TWIL, we also covered it in depth with a review of the latest release of EOS 3.0 in my podcast Destination Linux. So go check that out. I have links in the show notes for all of that. But EOS is a build that from Marina that comes de-googled. So there’s no Google stuff preloaded with Micro G and Marina cloud support for privacy first syncing and all that sort of stuff. You can add Google stuff if you want to, but by default, it doesn’t have it, which is great for a lot of people. So the repairability and modular design is staying true for the Fairphone DNA with 12 easily replaceable modules. You can swap parts, upgrade just using a simple screwdriver. So this is really cool because back in the day, there was the idea of just being able to like plug and play, pull things out and that sort of thing. And that kind of limits what you can do with the modularity because your phone would be super bulky. Like Motorola used to have something like that and it was like a very bulky thing.

Michael:
[13:24] This is really cool because you still get to have the modularity, but you also have a nicely well-built phone. So that’s cool. So the modules include display, USB-C port, battery, cameras, speakers, and even the buttons. Also, Fairphone pledges parts availability for at least seven years, echoing its software update promise as well. Fairphone 6 calls Gen 6 their most sustainable phone ever, built with 50% or more fair or recycled materials and manufactured on renewable energy lines the company offsets device for device to remain 100 e-waste neutral and this is very cool because they’re you clearly they’re open to the the ecosystem aspect of the the environmental aspects of it because that’s one of the main focuses of why they did a modular phone because of all the devices that are just thrown into the landfills and the trash just because it happens to be slightly slower than a brand new phone. That’s also built with glue and all that sort of thing. So I’m a big fan of the Fairphone system. I don’t have one personally because I do live in the US, but I am so excited to try this one out when it comes to me later this year, because I will be getting one for sure. So like I said, pre-orders are open now and the EU, European Union people can get one. Basically, deliveries are starting next week and US will be start waiting for August. But hey, waiting to August versus not getting the option at all.

Michael:
[14:53] I’ll take the August one. As Linux users, we know what’s up. Security is non-negotiable. But with threats getting smarter, your security needs to keep up. So without dragging your system down, though, traditional agents, well, they slow you down, they leave blind spots, and it’s time for a smarter approach. And that’s why This Week in Linux is proud to be sponsored by Sanofly Security, the revolutionary agentless platform designed for Linux. Sanofly doesn’t just detect and respond. It revolutionizes security with SSH key tracking, password auditing, and drift detection, covering threats from every angle. Whether your systems are in the cloud, on-premises, or in embedded devices, Sandfly ensures they’re all secure without the headaches of agent-based solutions. If your company is interested in transforming your security strategy, Sandfly offers free trials to show off what it can do for your business. So go to thisweeklinux.com/sandfly to check it out. Listen to what Selinda Lakamgi of Tate Communications has to say.

Michael:
[15:49] Sandfly addresses a serious security gap in the industry. Intrusion detection on Linux platforms. The best part of Sandfly is its agentless nature, making it a versatile application for any Linux environment. Experience security that’s not just effective, but gives you peace of mind. No agents, no downtime, just cutting edge protection. Dive into the future of Linux security at thisweeklinux.com/Sandfly and see how Sandfly can transform your security strategy. And if you’re as fascinated by cybersecurity as much as I am, then go check out the interview we had on Destination Linux with the CEO of Sandfly, Craig Rowland. And he has an awesome story about how he got into Linux, how he got into security. And we even talk about DEF CON in that interview. So go check it out, destinationlinux.net/409. Plus, if you want to save some money for the home edition, you can use the discount code destination50 to get 50% off the home lab edition.

Michael:
[16:40] Firefox 140 steps up as the 2025 ESR release, while Firefox 141 is also promising performance benefits by having more efficient RAM use on Linux going forward. And also we got a little bit of a bummer news from Mozilla, sunsetting its deep speech voice engine. We’ll talk about that in a second. So let’s talk about what is happening in the latest release of Firefox 140, because this is the latest extended support release or ESR, which guarantees one full year of maintenance for risk-averse organizations, or the long lifespan style distros like Debian.

Michael:
[17:18] So this will be superseding the Firefox 128 ESR, and it also starts the clock for the eventual retirement of this September for the 115 ESR. So the standout new tricks for this release of Firefox is the ability to right click a tab and then choose to unload that tab, freeing up memory instantly, which is very cool. A lot of other browsers have that too, so it’s nice to see Firefox is now adding that sort of feature. Also vertical tabs get a resizable pin zone so if you want to have like you can basically control how many or how it does the pins of the various different applications or various different websites inside of that section rather than just however it happened to do it before so that’s pretty cool also adding custom search engines is now just two quick two quick clicks away and of course pocket has now started to see removal from the new tab integration as well as the pocket button in the toolbar since the service is winding down. Under the hood polishes is also going to be seen in this release with a on-device translation now prioritizes the text in view. Arabic language gains a native spell checker and also the Android builds of Firefox adds biometric locks for private tabs.

Michael:
[18:32] So that’s a pretty cool one. Now let’s talk about a sneak peek for the next release of Firefox with Firefox 141 beta promises to use less memory on Linux systems and no longer require a forced restart after Package Manager update, which is pretty nice. So having the ability to get improved performance with less RAM usage is definitely something I am looking forward to with 1.41. Now for some bummer news is that Mozilla is formally discontinuing its open source deep speech project, which is a speech-to-text engine after years of inactivity. So unfortunately, it hasn’t seen much development since 2021, and there hasn’t been a release since 2020. So it’s not surprising, but it also is still disappointing because having an open source speech to text engine, it was always something that I was super excited that Mozilla was working on. And now they’re not. So that’s a bummer. So what are your thoughts on the latest release of Firefox? Are you excited about this release? Are you excited about the next one, 141?

Michael:
[19:33] Or are you just disappointed by all the changes and the things that Mozilla

Michael:
[19:37] keeps killing? Let me know in the comments what you think. Plasma 6.4.1 lands as the first maintenance update to 6.4, ironing out the issues with some glitches for the folder view selection, also fixing panel auto-hide stalls, and improving graph axis label readability in the system monitor app. Also, there’s some bug fixes where they’re patching the seizure triggering issue with some blur effects. They’re working on trying to fix that in the future, but for now, they have removed the function that makes that happen. But it’s not happening for everybody, but for people who are sensitive to seizures, it might be a problem. So they went ahead and took it out, which I think is great for accessibility and usability. And they also have tightened the HDR wizard when using multiple monitors that are attached. They also made some improvements for the Wayland / X11 code split. That was introduced in 6.1, which lets developers polish the Wayland version without having to create any kind of regressions for X11. So splitting them off means you can put more work into Wayland and also still have functional X11 support. There’s also some work being made on the KDE initial system setup wizard, which now compiles, launches, and walks first boot users through account creation, like locale settings, and also keyboard settings, brightness.

Michael:
[21:00] Scaling, dark mode toggle, and many, many more things. And they’re working on this for a future. It’s not ready to go right now, but they’re working on it for future releases of KDE Plasma. And this is really cool because it’s a nice UX UI cleanup for the existing approach. And I think this is really nice looking. And I also really like the fact that it has the scaling part built in. So if you have a high resolution display, You can be able to quickly make those changes so that it works best for you. And I think that’s awesome. Hopefully, this is available on the live USB version. And then once you make the change, it records it for the installation. So you don’t have to do it again. That’d be very cool. But either way, it’s really nice to be able to see this stuff that be really easily accessible for users.

Michael:
[21:49] Also, let’s talk about Wayland adoption in KDE Plasma because there is some really interesting news about that because there’s a telemetry system inside of KDE Plasma that you can opt in and submit your data. And while not everybody does, those who have says about 70% or so, or about 73% of those people who are using Plasma 6 who have turned on telemetry are using the Wayland session, which is a significant portion of the usability of the platform. And also is a little over 60% of all telemetry activated users are on Wayland. And this is about like the people who are using the plasma plasma six and plasma five as well as steam os and it used to be a little bit higher because it dipped when the latest release of steam os came out because that’s shipping x11 by default but it’s it still continues to the trending aspects of it’s still continuing to be a wayland.

Michael:
[22:42] Significant amount of users are using Wayland, which is a really interesting stat to have. And I think it’s important to know that this kind of thing is happening because it shows that a lot of people are able to use Wayland with no problems.

Michael:
[22:55] And even though despite what you might hear on Reddit or forums or whatever, it is possible to use Wayland by the way, people. Also this week, we got some interesting news from the Kubuntu team as they are going to be dropping the X11 session for Kubuntu 25.10 by default. So they will not include the X11 desktop session by default. It’s not removing X entirely. If the user wants to install X, they absolutely can still do that. It just won’t be there by default to switch to. So if they do want to switch it, they have to install it using sudo apt install plasma dash session dash X11, and then they will be able to have X at that point. Now, I know some people are going to not necessarily like this news. The reason is the maintenance burden and all that sort of stuff, especially getting ready for the next LTS, because if they have the X in the next LTS, it means they have to support it for the next three years for the flavor.

Michael:
[23:52] So that may or may not be the best option for the developers. So it is, you know, I understand why some people are going to be confused by this decision, but also you’re not going to get rid of, they’re not getting rid of X11. It’s just not there by default. So if you want it, you can use it. But since we’re on the subject of X11, let’s talk about KDE’s plans for Plasma and X11. So they are continuing to compile and deploy support for X11. There doesn’t seem to be any change in terms of what timeline they’re doing. So currently there’s no firm timeline for dropping X11 support.

Michael:
[24:26] Although it will happen eventually because it’s just inevitable.

Michael:
[24:32] It is something that we’re gonna have to wait and see when it actually happens because there are issues like x11 doesn’t have a lot of good support for mixed dpi for displays or hdr support and there’s some security issues as well as many other things that x11 has issues with so there’s a there’s a debate going on right now with some little bit of drama between x11 and whalen just know it’s not that big a deal that people are making it out to be uh as far if you’re using KDE Plasma, you can still use X11 just fine. It’ll just, it’ll still support it. So there’s that. And, but eventually, eventually it will go away, but that’s just because that was the plan for the past 15 years anyway. So let me know in the comments, I’m curious, are you using Waylon with KDE Plasma? If not, what is the thing that keeps you back from using X11? What is that thing that makes you have to use it? I’m very curious about that. So let me know in the comments.

Michael:
[25:27] The FlatHub just hit a major milestone with 3 billion total downloads. And it’s not just that the accumulation of over the course of the existence of the FlatHub since 2018 is now hitting 3 billion. It’s actually because in the last year, it’s already had a billion. That’s right. It was 2 billion last year, and this year it’s 3 billion. So 1 billion downloads in a single year. I think the FlatHub is pretty successful, you could say. So for those who don’t know, the FlatHub is basically an app store for Flatpaks on Linux. And this is the seventh year of the FlatHub existing. And to top it off, to have 3 billion downloads and show the trend being so high is very cool. So this is the raw numbers right now. As you see, it’s 3,032,633,636.

Michael:
[26:25] And that will be definitely different by the time you watch this there’s also 3037 desktop apps and verified there is 1624 and this is uh for those who don’t know verified label means that the maintainer or the upstream authors kind of sign the release manifest which doesn’t necessarily mean that they are maintaining it themselves but it does mean that they are recognizing who is maintaining it and are sort of kind of like sanctioning it, that sort of thing. So it reduces like supply chain worries in that sense, because you know that either it’s made by the official team or it’s been like sanctioned by the official team. So that’s awesome. We got 3 billion downloads for the latest update for the milestone of the FlatHub.

Michael:
[27:10] And of course, we’re going to see how fast it happens next year, because actually last time I talked about the 2 billion downloads was June of last year. So we’ll check back in June of next year and see where we are. And maybe it’s another billion. Maybe it’s even more. We’ll wait and see. Be sure to subscribe if you’d like to know more about it. I mean, you don’t have to wait a year. Next week, I’ll still make some more content. So feel free to subscribe to get more great Linux news.

Michael:
[27:35] This portion of the show is sponsored by me and my podcast, Destination Linux. If you’re not familiar, I have a podcast. It is a fantastic show, not biased in any way whatsoever, but Destination Linux is a weekly show where Ryan, Jill, and myself share our passion for Linux and open source. So it’s a show for all experience levels, whether you’re a beginner to open source or a guru of sudo, it’s the podcast for you.

Michael:
[28:00] Destination Linux covers a wide range of topics from the latest news, discussions about Linux and open source, gaming on Linux. We even do unique in-depth interviews. We actually get people who are doing the interviews, our interviewees love doing interviews with us, and we get a lot of great comments about how in-depth we do our interviews. So go check those out. I’ll have a link in the description for the latest, the last few interviews if you’re interested, as well as the last few episodes of Destination Linux, because there’s a lot of great content there. Again, not biased. Check out Destination Linux podcast by going to DestinationLinux.net. And yeah, also let me know what you think in the comments.

Michael:
[28:37] Humble Bundle has an awesome bundle to check out it’s the new 2k classic trilogies bundle which has six triple a epic story games where you get every bioshock and every mafia game in one go for about the cost of you know like a streaming subscription basically you get the ability to check out both of these franchises in full, And at a super good deal. So you get a value of about $169 for just $18.

Michael:
[29:10] So if you pay, it’s basically, there’s two options you can get. For less than 18, you can get three of the games. And then for 18, you get all six of the games. So for those who are not familiar, what you get inside this is Bioshock, the collection and Mafia Trilogy, the definitive edition. And this bundle, basically, you just claim the Steam keys and you’re good to go. So it’s very cool i have actually only played just the first bioshock i do have bioshock infinite but i didn’t have i don’t have bioshock 2 so i haven’t played infinite because you’re supposed to play it one two and then the infinite version and then also like the dlc uh so i have just waited for infinite for some reason i don’t even know why uh but yeah so you get all three of these games bioshock remastered bioshock 2 remastered and bioshock infinite which each show steam deck playable with ProtonDB gold ratings. When it comes to the Mafia trilogy, I have not played a single one of them, but I might be able to get this, you know, because the Mafia Definitive Edition, Mafia 2 Definitive, and Mafia 3 Definitive are included in this bundle.

Michael:
[30:16] Although the Mafia 1 and Mafia 2 are considered deck playable, but the definitive edition for Mafia three has deck unsupported tag, but also at the same time, it has ProtonDB gold rating. So who knows? There might be some issues depending on your system, whether or not you can play the third one, but technically ProtonDB has people saying that it does work. So if it wasn’t clear that $18 is less than $169, let’s talk about what the benefits are because it’s basically a 90% off. So you get 90% off and you get all of these. If you got them, the collections on sale separately, this would still be a better deal than that. And if you’ve got them not on sale, then it’s clearly a really good deal.

Michael:
[31:05] So I think it’s a clear choice. And if you are interested in this, be sure to check the links in the show notes to use the affiliate link so that I can get a little bit of money back on that. So if you want to support the show and also get some really cool games, please use this affiliate link that is in the description.

Michael:
[31:24] The OnlyOffice team has announced the latest release of their desktop editors with OnlyOffice 9.0. It has a fresh modern UI, built-in AI tools, and a new diagram viewer. And it is supported on Linux, Mac, and Windows. For those who use OnlyOffice on Linux, of course, that’s why you’re watching this show, you can get a dev version, RPM version, and an app image version, and they are working on Snap and Flatpak support, which is coming shortly. So OnlyOffice supports the new modern light or modern dark themes, so you can easily toggle between for clearer icons, cleaner toolbars, and a minimalist start window that jumps straight into the recent files.

Michael:
[32:05] Also, there’s a UI overhaul completely for like the spans across the docs, sheets, slides, forms, and the PDF editor for a consistent look. Although if you don’t like change, like some people don’t like change at all, you can still use the classic themes by switching it to in the view / interface themes. The built-in diagram viewer opens Microsoft Visio or VSDX files plus industry standards on any platform. View only for now, but no conversion is needed in order to use it.

Michael:
[32:37] Maybe in the future, they’re gonna be adding support for more than just viewing. But it adds native editing to Markdown support. They’ve also added some more support for different formats. So it now has native editing for Markdown. Open document graphics, and also Excel binary files. There’s a new AI panel that lets you OCR scan PDFs, auto build smart formulas, and generate macros from plain language prompts. So the macro converter even ports VBA to only OfficeScript with just a few clicks. So the AI is running locally with optional cloud helpers if you want to, but it’s up to you.

Michael:
[33:15] Spreadsheets also has smart analysis, which suggest pivot layouts and trend forecasts based on selected data. An office suite that has AI tools makes a lot of sense because you’re going to be using it to help you write things and come up with formulas and that sort of stuff. So having it built in is very nice. Also with this latest release, the PDF editor now supports drag and drop page reordering and instant duplication via Control-C, Control-V, copy, paste. You can also print without system dialogue option speeds a hard copy output on all operating systems and docs gain a paragraph border shortcut sheets add asynchronous calculations to keep big workbooks responsive and many more features so this release of only office brings a modern theme ai brains included and visio viewing support so does only office 9.0 earn a spot in your workflow let me know in the comments and if you do try it out, let me know what you think about the latest release.

Michael:
[34:15] France’s third largest city, Lyon, just voted to quit Microsoft 365.

Michael:
[34:21] So Lyon will swap Outlook, Teams, and Office for open source tools in a push for basically digital sovereignty. And that’s pretty cool. So this also seems to include Linux, which is very exciting. The city councilors passed the plan with a cross-party majority instructing IT to phase out Microsoft licenses as soon as technically possible. The motion cites that they spend 700,000 euros per year in subscription fees and strategic dependency on a foreign vendor as another reason. So this is targeting all 13,000 municipal workstations for administration schools and cultural sites. So what are they replacing exactly well they’re replacing microsoft office with only office they’re also replacing other things like including the ability to use linux on their workstations although that might be like there’s a report saying that’s a gradual dual boot process that eventually might be going into the linux exclusively but we’ll have to wait and see what happens there but there’s also being replacements for uh postgres or postgresql so if you’re not from postgres i if you’re supposed to say Postgres? I always call it Postgres. Is it PostgresQL? Is that how you’re supposed to say it? I don’t know. I feel like.

Michael:
[35:38] I’ve heard Postgres like a thousand times and I’ve never heard anyone say Postgres QBEL. The full rollout is slated for the 2026-2027 school year with quarterly status reports to the council while in the process. The budget also is reallocating the licensing money to extra support engineers and other locally sourced cloud hosting services. For those that don’t know, a lot of other cities in France have already done a migration to open source stacks and Leon is joining that collective. So this is awesome news. I’m really excited to see how it works out for the Leon team and going from saving a bunch of licensing fees and all that sort of stuff, but also having control over your data. It’s, you know, it’s a no brainer to me and I’m glad to see that Leon also has seen that as well. So I guess the only thing that Microsoft can really say about this whole thing is, c’est la vie.

Michael:
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Michael:
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