--- title: COSMIC DE is quietly shipping features KDE and GNOME... description: System76's COSMIC desktop environment reached version 1.3 with 186 contributors and 16,000+ merged pull requests. The standout feature is per-monitor... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-de-is-quietly-shipping-features-kde-and-gnome-still-argue-about-o5prru0ja twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: COSMIC DE is quietly shipping features KDE and GNOME still argue about | daily.dev og:description: System76's COSMIC desktop environment reached version 1.3 with 186 contributors and 16,000+ merged pull requests. The standout feature is per-monitor... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-de-is-quietly-shipping-features-kde-and-gnome-still-argue-about-o5prru0ja og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/O5prRu0Ja.png og:image:alt: COSMIC DE is quietly shipping features KDE and GNOME still argue about og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # COSMIC DE is quietly shipping features KDE and GNOME still argue about **[Trends](https://daily.dev/sources/trends)** · 2 min read · 34 upvotes · 5 comments ## Summary System76's COSMIC desktop environment reached version 1.3 with 186 contributors and 16,000+ merged pull requests. The standout feature is per-monitor independent workspace management, a long-requested capability that KDE and GNOME still lack. Other additions include mixed tiling/floating mode across monitors, frosted glass effects with per-panel controls, a new system monitor, window shadows, sticky windows, rpm-ostree support in COSMIC Store, and pointer constraints for gaming. COSMIC Text, written in pure Rust, gained ellipsis support used desktop-wide. While polish gaps versus GNOME and KDE remain, the project's shipping velocity is notable compared to the slower pace of competing desktop environments. ## Content Seven months in, System76's COSMIC desktop is doing something rare: actually shipping. Version 1.3 just landed with 186 contributors, 16,000+ merged pull requests, and a feature list that's starting to make other Linux desktops look slow. The headline grab is dual-monitor workspace handling. On KDE, switching workspaces moves both monitors together. On COSMIC, each monitor gets its own independent workspace. It sounds like a small thing until you've lived without it. One user who switched from KDE put it plainly: this is the feature KDE should have shipped with. You can also run tiling mode on one monitor while keeping the other in floating mode, which is the kind of workflow flexibility that usually requires a dedicated tiling WM and a lot of config file archaeology. The 1.3 release also added frosted glass effects with granular controls per panel, applet, and window. There's a new system monitor with CPU, memory, GPU, disk, and network views. The compositor gained window shadows and sticky windows. COSMIC Store now handles rpm-ostree and RPM files. The terminal, file manager, and media player all got meaningful updates, not just version bumps. Under the hood, COSMIC Text is written in pure Rust and just gained ellipsis support used across the whole desktop. The compositor added pointer constraints (relevant for gaming) and support for multiple fullscreen windows per workspace. The honest caveat: COSMIC is still rough in places. It's a 1.x release on a desktop that's been in development for years, and the polish gap versus GNOME or KDE is real in spots. But the trajectory is hard to argue with. Most Linux desktop projects spend years debating architecture. COSMIC is merging PRs. The dual-monitor story alone is pulling in converts. When your differentiating feature is something users describe as "should have existed years ago," that's a decent sign you're building the right thing. ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@yetzederixx** · 3 upvotes > Now if they could just stop shipping kernel's that brick those stupid onboard AMD GPU's when you also have a dedicated Nvidia GPU I'd actually be happy, but hey, they can keep working on ui polish. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [COSMIC just hit version 1.2, and it's quietly doing things GNOME and KDE still make you fight for](https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-just-hit-version-1-2-and-it-s-quietly-doing-things-gnome-and-kde-still-make-you-fight-for-uxppja8cj) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [COSMIC is doing things KDE and GNOME still can't, and it's only going to get better](https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-is-doing-things-kde-and-gnome-still-can-t-and-it-s-only-going-to-get-better-suu0fyt9z) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [COSMIC is doing what GNOME still can't, and it's only been out for a year](https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-is-doing-what-gnome-still-can-t-and-it-s-only-been-out-for-a-year-hwwqp4tij) · XDA Developers · 43 upvotes · 8 comments - [I tried COSMIC expecting a half-finished beta, and now I don't want to go back to KDE or GNOME](https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-cosmic-expecting-a-half-finished-beta-and-now-i-don-t-want-to-go-back-to-kde-or-gnome-tivoc9qdr) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-de-is-quietly-shipping-features-kde-and-gnome-still-argue-about-o5prru0ja) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"COSMIC DE is quietly shipping features KDE and GNOME still argue about","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-de-is-quietly-shipping-features-kde-and-gnome-still-argue-about-o5prru0ja","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/cosmic-de-is-quietly-shipping-features-kde-and-gnome-still-argue-about-o5prru0ja"},"datePublished":"2026-07-22T13:08:18.941Z","dateModified":"2026-07-23T02:17:31.407Z","description":"System76's COSMIC desktop environment reached version 1.3 with 186 contributors and 16,000+ merged pull requests. 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