The next version of the Tails 2.x series will be 2.11, currently scheduled for launch in early March, but it looks like the development of the Tails 3.0 major release continues in the background, and now users can get their hands on the Beta build.
Tails 3.0 Beta comes two and a half months after the Alpha milestone released last year in November, when the project's developers announced that they would
drop support for 32-bit systems, allowing the amnesic incognito live system to run only on 64-bit PCs.
As usual, we took the Beta version of Tails 3.0 for a test drive to see what's new, and we can report that it's based on the upcoming Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system and it's powered by the long-term supported Linux 4.9 kernel.
GNOME 3.22 is the default desktop environment with redesigned Greeter
However, probably the coolest new features of Tails 3.0 is the revamped Tails Greeter, a small dialog that will pop-up when you run the live system for the first time on your computer, helping you set up the default language, keyboard layout, formats, and other settings.
Of course, Tails 3.0 will come pre-installed with all the anonymity tools that you love, including the recently introduced OnionShare utility for anonymous file sharing. The latest Tor and Tor Browser applications are also included to keep your identity safe from hackers and hide from government agencies.
Numerous bugs have been squashed in this new pre-release version of Tails 3.0, but many known issues remain unresolved, and you can read all about them before jumping on the beta testing bandwagon in the
official release notes.
Without further ado, you can
download the Tails 3.0 Beta Live ISO image right now, write it on a USB flash drive, and take it for a test drive on your modern, 64-bit computer. If you decide to stick with it, please keep in mind that it's a pre-release version, not suitable for production use, despite the fact that it will receive security updates.
