System76 calls this "Contextual Tiling." Here is how it works:
Note: These are based on early Alpha builds of Pop!_OS 24.04. cosmic-desktop
The natural question is: Why didn't System76 just keep forking GNOME?
But here is the kicker: Native COSMIC Apps . System76 is rewriting the core suite in Rust (Iced). These include: System76 calls this "Contextual Tiling
Previously, Pop!_OS used a heavily customized GNOME desktop with their famous "Launcher" and tiling window management extensions. However, as System76 tried to push modern features (like advanced tiling, fractional scaling, and HDR support), they hit the limitations of GNOME Shell’s aging JavaScript codebase and Mutter’s compositor logic.
COSMIC is designed for . It isn't just a skin for an existing system; it is a full ecosystem of apps and tools. System76 is rewriting the core suite in Rust (Iced)
– Even in early alpha, it feels snappy. Animations are smooth, memory footprint is far lower than GNOME or KDE. No UI stutters even on integrated graphics.