In addition to all the features highlighted, I encourage you to explore the application separately to see if it fits your requirements.

If you are not interested to give it a try, you can first take a look at its official user guide to see what else it offers including the key features I mention here.

Below is the list of key highlights:

• Cross-platform support: This is much-needed support because creators/editors need to have the flexibility of using the same software on multiple platforms anywhere they work at. It is also worth noting that the saved project files are also cross-platform.
• Support for various Audio/Video/Image formats: It uses FFmpeg library – so it can work with most of the major audio/video and image formats in the timeline.
• Drag and drop support: Being able to interact and drop files from your desktop to the timeline is always a plus. So, with OpenShot, you can do that.
• Unlimited Tracks: Some video editors used to limit the number of tracks/layers you can create per timeline. But, here, you get to create as much as you want (of course, it has to be practical).
• Basic video manipulation: A video editor can only come in handy if it can easily let you trim, clip, resize, snap, rotate, and cut the video. Here, you get all that.
• Real-time previews: You do not have to render or play the video separately when applying a transition, you can preview that in real-time.
• 3D Animated Texts & Effects: Along with the generic text editor (with title templates) and video effects, you have got some options for 3D effects and texts as well.
• Advanced timeline: Just like you’d expect for any modern video editor, you can easily drag and drop stuff, zoom, pan, and control snapping for easily managing the content in the timeline.
• Audio mixing and editing: Interestingly, it also supports audio editing features such as displaying the waveform or split the audio from your video.

For what it offers – it definitely seems to be one of the simplest yet feature-rich video editors available for Linux.

Flowblade 2.8

Open source video editor Flowblade continues to mature with each successive release, a trend apparent in the latest release, Flowblade 2.8. This update adds a number of new capabilities to this promising non-linear video editor, including:

• Change the layout of panels on screens over 1680×1050
• Two new themes: Neutral and Gray
• Configurable keyboard shortcuts
• Updated filter panel
• French language user manual

Shutter 0.95

Shutter 0.95 has been released. It continues the arduous task of modernising Shutter’s code and jettisoning antiquated dependencies.

While the unofficial Shutter Snap we wrote about last year hasn’t been updated (at the time of writing this) official source code can be grabbed from Shutter’s new home on GitHub.

Darktable 3.4.1

Darktable, the oft-cited open source alternative to Adobe Lightroom, fixes a bunch of bugs, including several memory leaks, colour correction and RGB handling, and scrolling on macOS and Windows.

Faster thumbnail generation during import is on offer, as are updated white balance presets and noise profiles for a glut of cameras, including the Canon EOS 1500D, Canon EOS 200D, Canonical Rebel T7 and the Panasonic DC-S1R.

Kdenlive 20.12.2

Kdenlive 20.12.2 is a bug fix release — but don’t let that put you off. While bug fix updates are traditionally that’s never the case with Kdenlive! Its bug fix updates are HUGE, with devs fixing as many things across the full feature-set of the tool as possible — which is always exciting!

Among the multitude of Kdenlive 20.12.2 fixes:

• Copying an effect from a track to another
• Various subtitle feature bugs
• Timeline click not working after a speed change operation
• Keyframes sometimes broken on image/title clips
• Playlist proxy clips work again
• Fix slowmotion effect not working

You’ll find a much fuller change log on the Kdenlive blog.

Kdenlive is free open source software. You can install the latest version of Kdenlive on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and above by adding the official Kdenlive PPA your system. Alternatively, download the Kdenlive 20.12.2 .appimage.

Most of you may be asking... Wasn't the HOME folder already PRIVATE?  The quick answer to that question, is NO.

When you create a new user on an Ubuntu system that user can ‘read’ files in the main ~/Home folder. Y’know, the one you probably use for your personal stuff, settings, etc.

It sounds crazy lax, but back in the early days of Ubuntu the reasoning was that multi-user systems have “…some level of cooperation (if not trust) among the users – they’ll be members of the same family, or friends, or co-workers, or whatever – and it is useful for them to be able to share files reasonably conveniently”.

However, the world, and Ubuntu, has moved on considerably since that statement was made. All of us expect much stricter handling of our personal data, even on systems that we admin ourselves.

Ubuntu devs agree. They now think their ‘significant customer and user-base in the public cloud and server space’ merits stricter controls from the outset.

“World-readable home directories,” Ubuntu’s Security Tech Lead explains are “…more like a footgun than a feature – in this case, if a worker account is compromised, an attacker could now more easily access sensitive data from the other worker accounts or the admin account.”

And... The change comes.

In Ubuntu 21.04 Home folder are no longer ‘world-readable’ by default. Or to be explicitly technical, the directory permissions have changed from 755 to 750.

It’s important to note that this change will not affect existing installs, nor any in-place upgrades to 21.04 in the spring. Only new Ubuntu 21.04 installs (and new users created therein) will benefit from these tighter permissions by default.

Why make this security tweak now, in 21.04? Well, better late than never. Plus it gives Ubuntu devs several releases to gauge the impact of, and work through any issues that arise from it in advance of the next LTS.

More details on the change can be gleaned from Ubuntu developer mailing list announcement.