14 DAY TRIAL // The MATE desktop environment has been updated to version 1.12, and the new iteration brings quite a few improvements, the most notable being the support for GTK 3.18.
The MATE desktop is used in a large number of Linux distributions, but the most prominent ones are Ubuntu MATE and Linux Mint. Both of these operating systems have a lot of users, and their developers are also contributors for the MATE project, which puts them in the unique position of building for the needs of a certain community.
Developers of the MATE desktop have also started to put a lot more effort into the project, and this is the second major update that we got in the past six months. It looks like people are finally devoting a lot more attention and resources towards it and that can only be a good thing.
MATE 1.12 is now ready for download
Even if the source packages have been made available by the developers, it will take some time until they land in repositories or as default for OSes. Most likely, the first one in line will be Linux Mint Mate 17.3 that will arrive by the end of November.
According to the changelog, GTK3 support across the entire MATE Desktop has been improved, the touchpad support has been refined, much better multi-monitor support has been implemented, the power applet now displays model and vendor information, and the session management which now includes screensaver inhibition while playing media has been improved.
Also, the systemd support has been extended, long-standing bugs and many little usability paper-cuts have been fixed, the support for Win32 and Mac OS X has been removed, and lots of smaller changes have been made.
You can download MATE 1.12.0 right now from Softpedia, but please keep in mind that these are only the source packages.
