I use Ubuntu out of the box for desktop machines and Centos for servers. The Gnome/Ubuntu desktop is OK and way better than XP for me. (Yes, I do know my tast

I use Ubuntu out of the box for desktop machines and Centos for servers. The Gnome/Ubuntu desktop is OK and way better than XP for me. (Yes, I do know my tastes are 3 sigma away from the norm, but I am not sure which direction.) I am irritated by the tendency of the Linux Desktop designers to clone the Windows and/or the MAC Desktop features and problems, good and bad. I would prefer a Linux Desktop that provides a better interface than the competition, one without the warts of the other products. I do not see the need all the graphical configuration themes and options, which just seem to add complexity. Few of the people I know use anything other than the "standard" configuration simply because a private configuration needs to be maintained and provides almost no marginal advantage. I find Desktop GUI tools are frequently cumbersome and using them causes a lot of busy hand work. Shell command lines, BASH scripts, and Python programs work better for me than the Desktop GUI. I am frustrated when Desktop Tools are not easily usable from scripts as sometimes is the case with Gnome. None the less, I think the Linux Desktop is alive and well.