OS 'Honesty Bump' Raises RAM Floor

Canonical’s Ubuntu 26.04 LTS advertises a new minimum of 6GB RAM rather than the older 4GB, explicitly acknowledging that modern desktops, browsers and multitasking make lower‑RAM experiences sluggish. The change is partly rhetorical — installs on smaller machines still work but the vendor now signals realistic expectations. — Shifting official system requirements matters because it changes upgrade incentives, resale value of older hardware, e‑waste calculations and digital‑inclusion debates about who can realistically run mainstream software.