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This post brings back memories from when Windows dominated the market, and many online sites—e.g., Slashdot—talked about the "year of the Linux Desktop." (Sadly

This post brings back memories from when Windows dominated the market, and many online sites—e.g., Slashdot—talked about the "year of the Linux Desktop." (Sadly, in 2024, the closest thing to the year of the Linux desktop is Android.) I tried multiple Linux DEs at the time. I also remember "Helix Gnome" (later renamed to Ximian). I also remember that Helix Gnome used icons created by a person with the "Tigert" user alias. His icon designs were terrific and greatly influenced all the later Gnome icons. The main Gnome problem at the time was stability: Nautilus and Helix Gnome generated core dumps constantly. At that time, I switched to KDE for my daily work (I loved KDE's architectural consistency) and later to Xfce. In retrospect, as a user of Linux DEs at that time—nowadays, I use macOS—the KDE vs. GNOME "fight" didn't help. KDE had a more stable code base but lacked a polished UX. GNOME had the investment of a few companies (like RedHat, Ximian, Sun, and later Canonical) that improved the visuals and UX over time, but its internals were a mess.

giancarlostoro 2y ago
For years I'd go back between Windows and Linux, but sometime after 2018 or so I stopped even "going back" altogether. I've been able to daily Linux, my bar is high too. If it doesnt work OOTB I go back to Windows or to a distro that does. I'm not wasting any time fighting a broken OS. I think the era of Linux on the Desktop is already here, just wish BestBuy would sell System76 towers, might push it further along.
bityard 2y ago
> "year of the Linux Desktop" Well, Linux as a desktop is quite popular amongst IT and developer types anyway. That's good enough fo rme. In retrospect, I think I should be grateful that the Linux desktop never really went mainstream. It would have ended up being controlled by one (maybe two) companies and twisted into something that removed all of the benefit of it being open source to begin with. So, ChromeOS, I guess?
bityard 2y ago
I have basically had a history of using whichever desktop environment got in my way the least. At various times, that has been GNOME 2, MATE, XFCE, GNOME 3 (Ubuntu edition), GNOME 3 (PopOS edition), and probably a few that I'm forgetting. Lately I have been running KDE on Debian and it is basically everything I always wanted Linux on the desktop to be for the last two decades.
Suppafly 2y ago
It's wild how sane (and stable) linux desktop is today when you look back at some of the crazy experimental stuff that was going on 20 or so years ago.

giancarlostoro 2y ago

For years I'd go back between Windows and Linux, but sometime after 2018 or so I stopped even "going back" altogether. I've been able to daily Linux, my bar is high too. If it doesnt work OOTB I go back to Windows or to a distro that does. I'm not wasting any time fighting a broken OS. I think the era of Linux on the Desktop is already here, just wish BestBuy would sell System76 towers, might push it further along.

bityard 2y ago

> "year of the Linux Desktop" Well, Linux as a desktop is quite popular amongst IT and developer types anyway. That's good enough fo rme. In retrospect, I think I should be grateful that the Linux desktop never really went mainstream. It would have ended up being controlled by one (maybe two) companies and twisted into something that removed all of the benefit of it being open source to begin with. So, ChromeOS, I guess?

bityard 2y ago

I have basically had a history of using whichever desktop environment got in my way the least. At various times, that has been GNOME 2, MATE, XFCE, GNOME 3 (Ubuntu edition), GNOME 3 (PopOS edition), and probably a few that I'm forgetting. Lately I have been running KDE on Debian and it is basically everything I always wanted Linux on the desktop to be for the last two decades.

Suppafly 2y ago

It's wild how sane (and stable) linux desktop is today when you look back at some of the crazy experimental stuff that was going on 20 or so years ago.