Solus brings updates to its users by means of a curated rolling release model. It is a rolling release in the sense that once installed, end-users are guaranteed to continuously receive security and software updates for their Solus installation without having to worry that their operating system reaches end-of-life. The latter is typically the case with fixed point releases of operating systems such as Fedora and Ubuntu but also Microsoft Windows. Marius Nestor at Softpedia has argued that all operating systems should use the rolling release model in order to decrease development and maintanence workload for developers and to make the latest technologies available for end users as soon as these are ready for the market.[22]
Compared to other rolling release operating systems such as Arch Linux - which provides bleeding edge software, i.e. software so new that there is a high risk that software breakages might occur and render the system partially or completely unusable, Solus takes a slightly more conservative approach to software updates, hence the term curated rolling release. In contrast to Arch, Software on Solus is commonly referred to as cutting edge, typically excluding beta software, and is released after a short period of testing (in the unstable software repository) to end users in order to provide a safer, more stable and reliable update experience. By prioritizing usability (curated rolling release) over availability (pure rolling release), Solus intends to make the operating system more widely accessible, targeting users with varying degrees of computing experience from beginners to advanced users alike. Consequently, Solus shares a much larger potential user base with Microsoft Windows and macOS than with Arch Linux which is mainly aimed at more advanced users willing to learn their system inside out.
Solus is also a curated rolling release in allowing its users to participate in the actual curation process, broadly conceived as the process by which software is selected, maintained and updated (on the sever side in the software repositories of the operating system as well as on the client side on the end users computer system). More specifically, and contrary to other operating systems with various 'enforced update mechanisms' at place, a Solus user has the freedom to choose what gets updated and when updates are applied (if at all), except for mandatory security updates. Matt Hartley has praised this recently in his overview of the best Linux-based operating systems of 2017, that "like fixed release distributions, you're free to keep updates fixed to security only if you so choose"[23] and that it is "a powerful statement"[24] to have the "ability to choose how Solus updates".[25]
Waiting for the Budgie 11 release which should be interesting, but might take a long time to show up. Might be pretty smooth/fluid UI/animations if they are going with Qt and Wayland. I hope they don't screw up the looks too much.