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I can't help but think that if Linus had been more opinionated about what happens outside the kernel things would have gone a lot better for Linux Desktop. The

I can't help but think that if Linus had been more opinionated about what happens outside the kernel things would have gone a lot better for Linux Desktop. The kernel works because of his benevolent dictatorship and insistence on doing things certain ways, a certainty and direction that is lacking in the wider ecosystem. > there will never be "One Linux Desktop" we will always have at least 2 or 3 very popular ones, one for power users, one for GNOME/Apple types and one for minimalists Conceptually there is no reason these can not all be the same DE with different configurations. KDE likes configuration, but GNOME has more market share and seems to hate the idea that people might actually want to do things with it. Personally, I think Linux Desktop missed a huge opportunity to have embraced GNUStep in the 90s as its one true path.

traveler01 5y ago
Probably the only one company that may direct Linux Desktop in any direction at all is Valve. They launched Steam Deck running on a Linux distro, they made SteamOS, etc. They clearly are taking steps in Linux, but obviously the community should get behind it, which isn't happening in a good scale.
- linspace 5y ago
  > which isn't happening in a good scale. I'm still waiting for my Steam Deck, so there must be hope
- gurkendoktor 5y ago
  I admire your optimism, but almost every Steam Deck review complained about the UI. All the work under the hood looks really good, with Proton and pressure-vessel and so on, but they just don't seem to have the almighty yet tasteful UI dictator that a desktop distro needs. Unfortunately, that is also the part that the community cannot help with. Still, can't wait to get mine and play around with the desktop. Ironically, I was planning to use mine for contributing to elementary, after having been locked out for a while (ARM Mac).
linspace 5y ago
I completely agree but there have been always two forces against it: 1. People will do in their free time whatever they want. 2. They rationalize it with "competition is good". And so here I am, the only Linux desktop user in a team of 20 developers with Macs. My faith is strong for I'm the guardian of freedom. Started in the 90s with Slackware and have tried at least a dozen distros and right now my algorithm for installing a distro: choose a popular one, install, if drivers work keep it otherwise try another. Couldn't care less about Gnome vs KDE, pulseaudio vs whatever, systemv vs systemd, rpm vs deb, directory layout, bla bla bla...
simion314 5y ago
So for example the Desktop is created from different independent parts (maybe now is different in GNOME case where it might be a big blob). So you have the Shell, the Window Manager, the toolkit for the applications and maybe some core libraries. Now say you want to change the fonts to only use Comic Sans, you need to cnfigure the Shell, the toolkit and Window manager(for the font used in the window toolbar), a place to select Qt fonts and a place to configure GTK3,3 fonts so you have 3-4 different places. In Windows most apps would use whatever fonts they want, can't remember how is on Apple. On KDE the different components are threated as independent, your distro configures them and you have a Settings application that will dynamically plug the different stuff to give you configuration, this is why you get different places that allows you to change fonts. GNOME will not let you configure Qt fonts, and they will attempt to hide the options for you since they don't want to support anything then their hard coded stuff and the theme their designer loves. You can't put more Settings in GNOME and obtain a KDE< KDE is different because on how it is created, small team of volunteers working on their small application and component without a big ego dude deciding if we should add a button or menu. It suffers of being designed by developers and actual users and not a pro designer that never uses the shit he designs for.

traveler01 5y ago

Probably the only one company that may direct Linux Desktop in any direction at all is Valve. They launched Steam Deck running on a Linux distro, they made SteamOS, etc. They clearly are taking steps in Linux, but obviously the community should get behind it, which isn't happening in a good scale.

linspace 5y ago
> which isn't happening in a good scale. I'm still waiting for my Steam Deck, so there must be hope
gurkendoktor 5y ago
I admire your optimism, but almost every Steam Deck review complained about the UI. All the work under the hood looks really good, with Proton and pressure-vessel and so on, but they just don't seem to have the almighty yet tasteful UI dictator that a desktop distro needs. Unfortunately, that is also the part that the community cannot help with. Still, can't wait to get mine and play around with the desktop. Ironically, I was planning to use mine for contributing to elementary, after having been locked out for a while (ARM Mac).

linspace 5y ago

I completely agree but there have been always two forces against it: 1. People will do in their free time whatever they want. 2. They rationalize it with "competition is good". And so here I am, the only Linux desktop user in a team of 20 developers with Macs. My faith is strong for I'm the guardian of freedom. Started in the 90s with Slackware and have tried at least a dozen distros and right now my algorithm for installing a distro: choose a popular one, install, if drivers work keep it otherwise try another. Couldn't care less about Gnome vs KDE, pulseaudio vs whatever, systemv vs systemd, rpm vs deb, directory layout, bla bla bla...

simion314 5y ago

So for example the Desktop is created from different independent parts (maybe now is different in GNOME case where it might be a big blob). So you have the Shell, the Window Manager, the toolkit for the applications and maybe some core libraries. Now say you want to change the fonts to only use Comic Sans, you need to cnfigure the Shell, the toolkit and Window manager(for the font used in the window toolbar), a place to select Qt fonts and a place to configure GTK3,3 fonts so you have 3-4 different places. In Windows most apps would use whatever fonts they want, can't remember how is on Apple. On KDE the different components are threated as independent, your distro configures them and you have a Settings application that will dynamically plug the different stuff to give you configuration, this is why you get different places that allows you to change fonts. GNOME will not let you configure Qt fonts, and they will attempt to hide the options for you since they don't want to support anything then their hard coded stuff and the theme their designer loves. You can't put more Settings in GNOME and obtain a KDE< KDE is different because on how it is created, small team of volunteers working on their small application and component without a big ego dude deciding if we should add a button or menu. It suffers of being designed by developers and actual users and not a pro designer that never uses the shit he designs for.