Another Linux distro has dropped KDE Plasma, and I'm not surprised to see why - ZDNET

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Tech > Services & Software > Operating Systems > Linux The rolling release distro switches to Niri, a scrollable, tiling compositor that's better than you'd think. See why. Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Over the years, I’ve watched Linux distributions make all sorts of changes — some that made sense and some that didn’t. So when I read that KaOS was dropping the KDE Plasma desktop in favor of Niri (which I’d never heard of), I thought, “Hoo boy, this marks the beginning of the end.” I was wrong. Niri is actually pretty cool. KaOS, according to the developer’s website, is a “rolling and transparent distribution for the modern desktop, built from scratch with a very specific focus — focus on one DE (desktop environment), one toolkit (Qt), one architecture (x86_64).” That DE is Niri, a scrollable, tiling compositor. Unlike most tiling window managers, Niri tiles all windows in a horizontal plane, which you can scroll left or right to find the window you want to work with. Also: Linux PC booting slowly? This handy tool shows why in seconds – h

Mar 11, 2026 → Mar 11, 2026