Why did the latest update go down in version number?

I'm currently running 5.5.0b2 and noticed a new post in the download thread but when I went to download it, I noticed that the new version is 5.4.1f1. Is this because 5.5 is a beta and 5.4 is considered the "official" version?

 

The "b" in 5.5.0b2 stands for "beta". The 5.4.1f1 version ("f" meaning "final", I think) is considered a stable release, and they have just updated it to include some of the fixes to the Linux editor that they made for the 5.5.0b1/2 release(s).

The Linux editor is (to my knowledge) still considered experimental, so you will run into issues either way, but the 5.4.1f1 is probably the most stable you can currently get.

 

How is it that we cannot load a project started with 5.5.0b2 if 5.4.1f1 actually is the continuation of 5.5.0b2? Also, the layouts are completely broken, viewports windows are black, and probably some other things I don't know about since I immediately deinstalled it.

 

5.4.1f1 is not the continuation of 5.5.0b2. They represent two different branches of development. 5.4.1f1 is based on the current stable release of Unity and 5.5.0b2 is based on the current beta release.

 

Well, it's not exactly clear. Said like that, it's clearer. Anyway, 5.4.1f1 has the problems I described before; they did happen when I created a new project.