chore: article 2024-09-25

articles/2024-09-25-vanillaos-2-future-plans-updates-next-release.md

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+---
+title: "Vanilla OS 2 - Future Plans, Updates, and Next Release"
+description: "Vanilla OS 2 Orchid was released on July 28, 2024, just over a month ago. The results we've achieved have been immense, beyond our expectations, and we're very happy about it. This is also thanks to our close-knit community and dedicated team."
+date: 2024-09-25
+keywords:
+  - Vanilla OS
+  - Vanilla OS 2
+  - Vanilla OS Orchid
+  - Vanilla OS 3
+  - Vanilla OS Vision
+  - Vanilla OS Future Plans
+layout: article
+published: true
+comments: true
+---
+
+Vanilla OS 2 Orchid was released on July 28, 2024, just over a month ago. The results we've achieved have been immense, beyond our expectations, and we're very happy about it. This is also thanks to our close-knit community and dedicated team.
+
+As with any project that positions itself as innovative, there is a fundamental question after its most anticipated release, as in the case of Orchid where we spent over a year developing it: "What should we expect now?"
+
+To answer this question, we need to divide everything into 3 main sections:
+
+- Support and Sustenance
+- Updates
+- Next Release
+
+Let’s look at each of them in detail to get an overview of the future we've imagined for Vanilla OS.
+
+## Support and Sustenance
+
+Vanilla OS 2 Orchid is receiving support, both from the community and our team. At the moment, you can report any bugs on our GitHub organization or directly on our Discord server, where both community members and our team are ready to assist new users or respond to any questions or issues.
+
+In the immediate future, support will be expanded with an [Enterprise version for businesses and commercial entities](https://vanillaos.org/enterprise-support) that require more dedicated support. This solution is offered by fabricators.ltd, the company behind the Vanilla OS project and its main investor. fabricators.ltd will manage this support service, which will follow a paid formula for three main reasons:
+
+- Vanilla OS is a very ambitious project, and the team is very small and composed of volunteers, so we cannot ask them to invest further time in more critical support sessions as required by the enterprise world.
+- fabricators.ltd, on the other hand, despite being a well-established entity for several years now, is still a company with limited personnel and cannot afford to provide such a complex service for free.
+- We do not hide the fact that to carry out all our plans, [funds are needed](https://vanillaos.org/get-involved/funding), and while fabricators.ltd firmly believes in the project to the extent that it invests in its maintenance, marketing, and all necessary assets, it cannot be the sole source of support for the project.
+
+In addition to Enterprise support, fabricators.ltd has been negotiating with OEMs for several months to bring Vanilla OS to devices in different form factors. This is not an easy project, but they will arrive soon, and we will announce it in style.
+
+Of course, Vanilla OS constantly receives donations, and we are grateful for that. We want to thank every single supporter for helping us keep this project alive. If you are interested in supporting the project, take a look at our [Funding page](https://vanillaos.org/get-involved/funding), and you can also contribute directly to the code, translations, and graphic assets if you prefer.
+
+## Updates
+
+Although it has only been a little over a month, we have already released a total of 5 updates that you can see [here](https://vanillaos.org/updates).
+
+Vanilla OS does not follow a fixed schedule, so we cannot promise a weekly or monthly periodic update. This is because Vanilla OS is a complex project, the amount of software and components developed and maintained by our team is vast, and we prefer to feel free from the pressure of having to invent new features every day just for the sake of doing so.
+
+Since Orchid is still very recent, our main focus has been on bug fixing. We are tracking a good series of both minor and more important issues and are prioritizing them to ensure an increasingly stable version of the system. This doesn't mean there won’t be new features—in fact, we have many planned—but these will be developed slowly to ensure they do not overshadow the resolution of issues.
+
+Updates will be very different from each other and may include:
+
+- Bug fixing (both for the operating system and the installation ISO¹)
+- Alignment with Debian Sid
+- New features
+- Updating components not necessarily developed by our team (e.g., GNOME, the graphical interface of the operating system)
+
+¹We are working on a new ISO build method based on Vib, the same tool used to build Vanilla OS update images. It should be available in the coming days as soon as we finish our tests.
+
+However, it should be noted that if you are the type of user who can’t wait to try new and even experimental features of Vanilla OS, you’ll be interested in Vanilla OS Vision.
+
+### What is Vanilla OS Vision?
+
+Vanilla OS Vision is the codename given to the experimental version of Vanilla OS. Here the team experiments with new features and approaches that may see the light in subsequent versions of the project (either in the form of an update or major release).
+
+Due to the focus on problem-solving, no public work has yet started on this version of the project, but a series of private discussions are already underway, which will soon be made public, just in time to understand their potential. Keep an eye on the blog and our Discord server, as we will announce and provide instructions to test these features and participate in discussions as soon as possible.
+
+## Next Release
+
+We are not planning for a potential Vanilla OS 3 because it is not yet necessary. As previously explained, our focus right now is on bug fixing and making the system as solid as possible, especially in light of collaborations with OEMs. We’re all excited about laying the foundation for a third version of Vanilla OS, but we have responsibilities to attend to first.
+
+This does not mean that there will never be one, nor does it mean that Orchid will become stagnant. On the contrary, as previously mentioned, our updates not only bring fixes but also updates to system components, improvements to existing features, and updates to components like GNOME (we are planning the release of GNOME 47 soon, for example).
+
+With Vision, we will experiment with many new ideas and announce them all to keep you engaged, but while many will be made available as simple updates, others will only see the light in a future version 3 of Vanilla OS.
+
+It can be said that Vanilla OS is both a rolling release and a point release. It is rolling in its lifecycle since it is not locked into a state and is maintained solely for bug fixing and security patches. It continues to receive updates but is also a point release when a new set of important features and critical system changes are introduced.
+
+### Will reinstallation be necessary?
+
+No. The transition from Vanilla OS 22.10 Kinetic to Vanilla OS 2 Orchid required a reinstallation of the operating system due to significant architectural differences, but this will no longer be the case in the future. Our work over the past year has been aimed precisely at this—to lay the foundations for a solid base that can handle these eventualities. Even in the case of migration to a new base in the future, thanks to ABRoot and all the other technologies integrated into the system (and potentially others coming), reinstallation will no longer be necessary¹.
+
+¹ Note that this refers to a pristine state of the system, i.e., an exact copy of the version provided by the Vanilla OS team, and thus not altered by critical user modifications and apps installed via recommended channels such as Flatpak/APX/VSO).
+
+---
+
+We believe this is the best way to support the project and provide both an increasingly solid and secure operating system that is constantly updated without any compromises.
+
+We would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that the documentation for Orchid has been almost completely updated and has been available on the site [docs.vanillaos.org](https://docs.vanillaos.org/collections/handbook) for months. We are also writing new guides to cover recurring topics such as:
+
+- How to build a custom Vanilla OS image
+- How to use the APX GUI
+- How to use a custom image for VSO
+
+Thank you all for your attention, and we hope this article has answered all your questions. If not, or to fuel the discussion, we recommend joining our Discord server.
+
+- The Vanilla OS Team