Because it is the default desktop for at least the three biggest Linux distributions. Why is it the default? Because GNOME was GPL when KDE depended on the non

Because it is the default desktop for at least the three biggest Linux distributions. Why is it the default? Because GNOME was GPL when KDE depended on the non-free Qt, a long time ago. That is no longer relevant but it was the basis for it being blessed as default. I too use GNOME, not because I particularly like it, but because Linux lets me be productive right out of the box with a minimum of fuss and therefore I want to stay close to default. But I dread every major update where I have google some obscure configuration options just to leave my productivity alone.