this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
795 points (94.4% liked)
linuxmemes
20779 readers
789 users here now
I use Arch btw
Sister communities:
- LemmyMemes: Memes
- LemmyShitpost: Anything and everything goes.
- RISA: Star Trek memes and shitposts
Community rules
- Follow the site-wide rules and code of conduct
- Be civil
- Post Linux-related content
- No recent reposts
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I've quite enjoyed gnome so far. What are your complaints with it? Granted I don't think I have actually used another DE but I genuinely don't run into issues with gnome and the design is good enough imo.
What's your preferred DE and why?
My complaint with Gnome is just one, but it is overbearing: Gnome devs want to decide what is best for you, which stinks and goes against the very fundament of open software. But would not per se be a problem -- If they hadn't also decided that a bunch of things that are considered basic features that every other DE and even other OSes have implemented for the past 20 years are, in fact, unnecessary.
Consider the humble System Tray.
Gnome removed the System Tray in favour of a "Control Center". And the Control Center works really well -- For inbuilt Gnome stuff and applications that were written for Gnome. But stuff that is DE agnostic, or god forbid, ported over from another OS? Some of them expect a tray to be there. Have functionality that doesn't work without one. Or do work but are janky. Gnome doesn't offer a system tray. You have to install a third party extension, which would also be fine... Except every time Gnome updates every other third party extension breaks.
And like, sure, it's not Gnome Devs' job to ensure the operability of third party addons, but that you need them to begin with is a failure. Gnome's attitude towards everything seems to be "$#¨$ you, like just actually go &%$# yourself. You do things our way or you use something else. We have decided these things are useless, if you think they are necessary you are a $&@# and %$#$ you and the horse you rode in on"
As for my personal favourite DE? KDE Plasma. It's not something I'd ever recommend to a newcomer, but I like it precisely because of how many moving parts it has. I can make my system look, feel, and act just the way I like it. It's like the polar opposite of Gnome really.
Why would‘t you recommend plasma to a beginner? For me it seemed like the out-of-the-box experience is really nice.
As I said -- Same reason I love it.
That system control panel app with all its billions of options and everything being customizable and change-able is very good if you are a user who a. WANTS to customize everything b. Either knows how or is willing to learn.
Most beginners aren't after that. They want something that is somewhat familiar and that works well. And while, sure, Plasma's defaults are pretty good... I can totally see a newbie user opening up KCM and immediately becoming overwhelmed. Another user here even mentioned how much time they wasted because all those choices actually got in the way of them getting stuff done