2020 is a year witnessing unprecedented challenges brought by the sudden strike of Covid-19. Despite a formidable yet imperative period of lockdown, we have joined hands with solidarity and forged ahead in confidence.
While we ring out the Old Year and ring in the New Year, the powerful and fruitful year of Ox is already waiting around the corner. Reflecting upon the past, we believe it's about time to recollect and cherish some of our shared memories together.
In 2020, deepin in total released 3 version upgrades and pushed 7 system updates.
DDE introduced a fully refreshed and trendy graphical interface with rounded window corners, natural and smooth animation effects, exquisite multi-tasking view, and ingenious colorful icons, ensuring an exciting user experience with sophistication and craftsmanship.
A large number of wonderful native applications were then pre-installed, including several new apps. The optimized design and interaction logic made them more friendly, full-featured, and consistent with the overall desktop experience.
The built-in kernel was upgraded to the latest 5.3 version, greatly improving system stability and compatibility with more hardware support.
The software repository was built on Debian 10 with better system stability and security. Also, security vulnerabilities could be fixed more timely and compatibility with third-party applications was also enhanced.
Built on the basis of deepin 20 Beta, deepin 20 further improved DDE and desktop applications with a more natural and exquisite touch. Starting from then, DDE has been able to support light and dark themes, transparency adjustment, color temperature settings, power and battery settings, etc.
The notification settings were upgraded to support sound notifications upon messages, message display on the lock screen, message display on and off in the notification center, message display preview, and different reminder levels for various applications. Users could customize their settings in order to receive all important messages and avoid unnecessary interruptions.
Dual-kernel options were then introduced for the system installation interface, namely, Kernel 5.4 (LTS), Kernel 5.7 (Stable), and their "Safe Graphics" modes. As the latest kernel supports more hardware devices, this could not only bring overall improvement on system stability and compatibility but also render more options in system installation.
The overhalled design and interaction of a simplified system installer has made installation much easier. Just follow the instructions on our revamped interface and it's as easy as clicking next, next, and next. Starting from then, we were able to provide both manual installation and full disk installation when creating partitions. For the latter method, full disk encryption was also made possible.
The variety of applications in the App Store were able to meet our users' various needs in life and work. Features such as one-click updates and filters by category were also added to secure a more convenient and efficient app experience. Meanwhile, some Wine apps were also supported with great functions in line with their original counterparts.
The new fingerprint features were able to deliver clearer interaction guidance and more accurate scenario prompts. You could use your fingerprint to unlock, log in, verify your identity and get root permissions. A variety of fingerprint readers were supported from this version.
The kernel was upgraded to 5.8 (Stable) version, plus a minor upgrade of Kernel 5.4 (LTS), which could be selected for installation from the system installation interface. The new kernel not only improved the overall stability but also ensured compatibility with more devices.
Debian 10.6 repositories (the most stable version) were integrated by default in order to fix security issues and solve some serious problems.
The operating efficiency of processors, network transmission and response, file reading and writing, and graphics display has been significantly enhanced by the overall optimization of kernel configurations and codes. Conventional operations have also been fully optimized. You should be able to enjoy smoother experiences and faster responses from these improvements.
For Control Center, the new power settings - Power Plans was launched and supported three modes: Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance. Ultimate performance would be guaranteed once the high-performance mode's on, offering smoother user experiences.
Bluetooth: In addition to the connection with Bluetooth devices, Bluetooth file transfer was also supported for convenient transmission of small files, refraining you from the hassles of using data cables.
Smart mirror function has greatly improved ISO download speed by analyzing your location and intelligently downloading from the neighboring mirror sites.
A handful of pre-installed applications were replaced with deepin applications, including Firefox -> Browser, Thunderbird -> Mail, GParted -> Disk Manager, and Cheese -> Camera. This has enriched the application ecology, accommodated the needs of different scenarios, and unified UI and interactive experiences.
7 system updates and more than 1000 fixes and optimizations cover a wide range of aspects for DDE, deepin apps, and hardware adaptions. Every effort is made to nurture better using experience.
Contribution for upstream communities
By the end of 2020, we have submitted a total of 233 code contributions (changesets) and code lines modification (line changed) to the upstream communities. We hope that more developers who love and support open source join the "Give Back to Open Source" action and help build the influence of Chinese developers in the international open source community. China's open source initiative will surely gain greater momentum in the long run with more participation from a larger fan base.
At present, deepin has open sourced 112 projects, receiving 1,250 patch submissions, out of which 1,119 have been closed and merged. We are also stepping up the review against the remaining pending patches. Thank you all very much for your continuous contribution to these projects as they're only better because of you.
This year, we're also excited to embrace the new release of deepin forum which brings you refreshing updates with better experiences! A more reasonable division of page modules enables you to easily and quickly access forum information. The fresh visual style, enhanced tiered division of sections, intuitive introduction for various sections all add up for a better-personalized experience. The personal center now shows more contents, adding draft, collection, review, points, and other functions. We will also continue to optimize the experience in terms of functionality and performance. Stay tuned with us!
The number of registered forum users now tops 110,000 with 880,000 posts published. Thanks again for your feedback and comments. Every message is so valuable to us. deepin is only better because of your participation.
Various types of applications furnished by deepin App Store cover every aspect of your life and work scenarios. Meanwhile, some Wine applications are also provided to mimic native user experience. The store has accumulatively listed 1,600 applications with total downloads exceeding 4.7 million. App categories include audio-visual entertainment, office work and learning, programming, games, etc. In the future, we will continue to enrich this ecology with more app choices.
Quality Cotents
To increase brand awareness of deepin and encourage more user experiences, we have opened our social media accounts both in China and abroad, including WeChat, Weibo, TikTok, Bilibili, Toutiao, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube, with a total of 200,000+ fans. In 2020, over 300 videos & articles have been published featuring with system introduction, operation tips, app recommendations, etc.
DDUC 10th Anniversary Event
On November 28, 2020, the 10th DDUC (Deepin Developer and User Conference) was successfully held in Beijing with the theme Deepin is Complete Because of You. Developers and users who have contributed to the development of deepin community over the past ten years played the leading role in this event. This conference has gained extensive attention by deepin users, open source communities and technology enthusiasts both at home and abroad. More than 200,000 people joined our celebration via videolink, witnessing this remarkable journey for deepin and DDUC of the last 10 years.
A year full of expectations is awaiting for us to explore. Looking ahead, deepin will always remain true to its original aspirations and keep moving forward with everyone of you.
We sincerely wish you a most prospecrous and health year in 2021. May the lucky Year of Cow bless you and your family with moments of joy and lifetime of hapiness.
