And this is perhaps why the unix philosophy has such pull, as it suggests an environment where one can make changes and adaptions piecemeal and at ones own pace

And this is perhaps why the unix philosophy has such pull, as it suggests an environment where one can make changes and adaptions piecemeal and at ones own pace. But that suggests abandoning the notion of the DE, and going back to WMs and agreeing on, never mind adhering to, the ways software exchange data. Something that is the polar opposite of the direction that "desktop Linux" is moving these days.