4 ms·

I dunno, sponsoring open source is good, but desktop environment is such a fragile and transient part of the system, that it feels this money would better serve

by oytis 3y ago

I dunno, sponsoring open source is good, but desktop environment is such a fragile and transient part of the system, that it feels this money would better serve some more fundamental project. I.e. it not self-evident to me what's the return of this investment (in terms of common good) will be looking 10 years forward where some other desktop environment can become more fashionable.

flashback2199 3y ago
> desktop environment is such a fragile and transient part of the system That might be part of the point of the money. Also, gnome isn't going anywhere, it's been around for decades, and we watched Ubuntu the most popular distro by google trends move away from gnome only to go back to gnome a while later
- pjmlp 3y ago
  I miss Unity, nowadays using XFCE.
  - throwaway914 3y ago
    Gnome is so much better than what I remember in 2005. I've also grown up a little, and my internet connection is much faster. Yes, XFCE plays nicer on lighter hardware but I'm very happy with less sprawling dependencies and the polish in Gnome today. Plus Gnome is the one most likely to have HDR, VRR, and such sooner. I'm just not looking forward to next year with Apple Vision Pro. We're finally getting well-rounded desktop environments on Linux, now we have to edge into "spatial computer" desktop environments. That will take 20 years to catch up to. I'm still convinced every desktop environment should be a physics simulator - 2D or 3D. If you want consistent animations, changes of state, etc. you don't hardcode these into your application. Your application should exist in a physics simulator. Your windows are objects with layers. You're looking at a composited view of them. In 2023 we have the hardware and the know-how to run physics simulators as your desktop environments. </tinfoil-hat>
    - pjmlp 3y ago
      Except even for basic XFCE stuff, GNOME needs extensions, and on top of that, written in JavaScript. Also, as you can see on my comments history, most of my GNU/Linux use is on VMs and servers, since VMWare got good enough I have stopped the dual boot dance.
squigz 3y ago
In terms of getting more casual users to use Linux, it makes sense to sponsor projects like Gnome, considering how popular it is, and the fact that DEs are the main interface between users and the system; it's really rather important they're properly maintained, easy to use, etc While I half agree with you that there may be better sources for this funding, I'm happy for any serious open source funding, and the (hopefully positive!) attention it receives from that (And this comes from a long-term i3 user who loathes using heavy DEs :P)
redder23 3y ago
Gnome is the most popular DE! Why would some other DE become "more fashionable" there are basically just two main ones and that is Gnome and KDE. Everything else is niche. All these minimalist DEs and low hardware requirement DEs make less and less sense as hardware gets faster and faster and every little SBC has more and more ram ... there is rarely a need. We can pretty reliable say that Gnome will be around for a long time.

by oytis 3y ago

flashback2199 3y ago

> desktop environment is such a fragile and transient part of the system That might be part of the point of the money. Also, gnome isn't going anywhere, it's been around for decades, and we watched Ubuntu the most popular distro by google trends move away from gnome only to go back to gnome a while later

pjmlp 3y ago
I miss Unity, nowadays using XFCE.
- throwaway914 3y ago
  Gnome is so much better than what I remember in 2005. I've also grown up a little, and my internet connection is much faster. Yes, XFCE plays nicer on lighter hardware but I'm very happy with less sprawling dependencies and the polish in Gnome today. Plus Gnome is the one most likely to have HDR, VRR, and such sooner. I'm just not looking forward to next year with Apple Vision Pro. We're finally getting well-rounded desktop environments on Linux, now we have to edge into "spatial computer" desktop environments. That will take 20 years to catch up to. I'm still convinced every desktop environment should be a physics simulator - 2D or 3D. If you want consistent animations, changes of state, etc. you don't hardcode these into your application. Your application should exist in a physics simulator. Your windows are objects with layers. You're looking at a composited view of them. In 2023 we have the hardware and the know-how to run physics simulators as your desktop environments. </tinfoil-hat>
  - pjmlp 3y ago
    Except even for basic XFCE stuff, GNOME needs extensions, and on top of that, written in JavaScript. Also, as you can see on my comments history, most of my GNU/Linux use is on VMs and servers, since VMWare got good enough I have stopped the dual boot dance.

squigz 3y ago

In terms of getting more casual users to use Linux, it makes sense to sponsor projects like Gnome, considering how popular it is, and the fact that DEs are the main interface between users and the system; it's really rather important they're properly maintained, easy to use, etc While I half agree with you that there may be better sources for this funding, I'm happy for any serious open source funding, and the (hopefully positive!) attention it receives from that (And this comes from a long-term i3 user who loathes using heavy DEs :P)

redder23 3y ago

Gnome is the most popular DE! Why would some other DE become "more fashionable" there are basically just two main ones and that is Gnome and KDE. Everything else is niche. All these minimalist DEs and low hardware requirement DEs make less and less sense as hardware gets faster and faster and every little SBC has more and more ram ... there is rarely a need. We can pretty reliable say that Gnome will be around for a long time.