The oldest of the open source Linux desktops is planning its final steps away from X11, while an even older Unix desktop is getting freshened up.
The team behind the KDE Plasma desktop announced it is going all-in on a Wayland future. The Plasma version 6.8, “which we expect will be sometime in early 2027,” will completely drop X11 support.
You don’t need to worry just yet. Plasma 6.5 appeared less than a month ago, and it’s currently at version 6.5.3. That means there are the entire 6.6 and 6.7 release sequences to get through, which will probably take most of 2026 and some of 2027.
We’re around the teetering point where X11 still works pretty well especially on older hardware. Like if you’re rocking a GTX-1000 series graphics card I’d go Mint Cinnamon with X11, that’s probably going to be a better experience than Wayland. There’s certain things that X11 permitted that Wayland’s security model outlaws, which is a deal breaker for some, but Wayland is the future.