There is much worth fighting for, and those that fight for our choices and freedoms are the ones you should thank instead of belittle. What world would you live in if everyone agreed "it is better to move on for your own well-being and for the well-being of members that choose to remain users". One without choices and freedom, a world of corporations that take whatever they want. One where abuses go unchallenged.
I would like to add a little clarity:
Whether or not Zorin OS provides a copy of XFCE4 does not in itself limit our choices. Any user can install XFCE or Cinnamon or Plasma... In fact, many of us have done so for years without any discontent.
A lack of Zorin OS Lite may mean a lack of new Zorin Lite themes, but the existing ones could still be used.
What we are looking at is a Line of choices that make a statement about the current state of GnuLinux.
This thread is about - Alternatives -
Alternatives can be important. It allows a freer market, user choices, competition and these add to higher quality, less monopolization and less restrictions. For how long will we have these alternatives as distros drop support for them?
A market that is dominated by one entity or monopoloy is problematic. It is difficult to hold one sole provider responsible or accountable.
By dropping public support for variety and diversity, the ZorinGroups decision makes a public statement.
Already, a post has been made that demonstrates that the reason a reader might think XFCE was discontinued was because it was unnecessary, broken or inferior.
As any distro drops support for our competitive and varied alternatives, this reduces the applicability of having our variety across GnuLinux as a whole.
It makes the statement that we do not need these choices, any more.
It makes a statement that One choice is Better.
It makes a statement that the diversity and choices are no longer relevant.
And as this happens - we lose these choices.
The ZorinGroup - as The Developers - are perceived as knowledgeable authority. And a choice they make or a preference that they show is perceived as knowledgeable and authoritative.
Let me give an example of how powerful this is and how it deeply affects us all.
When Debian first considered whether to adopt SystemD, the consensus was "no." But one of their top developers pushed very hard for it and in the end, they took it on his authority that it was better, resolved issues and was good.
Only, it turned out that he had never even tested SystemD or looked over the code.
One of the key SystemD developers - was a friend of his.
So he pushed for it. He took it on his friends authority, Debian took it on his authority, everyone else took it on Debians authority... "They must know what they are talking about..." and the simple reality was that they were pals and he never even tested it at all.
And now we are all stuck with SystemD and Pulseaudio sound and integrated system services bloating our Operating Systems.
I am fine with having SystemD as a choice. MXLinux lets you choose - Sysvinit or SystemD, take your pick. They do not choose for you.
I am not fine with Distro Developer asserting monopolization, dominance and restrictions.
Is Gnome now equal to XFCE in lightweight system resource usage? That's... new.
If a person is going to assert this, it would have to mean that Recent changes and developments in Gnome make this possible; which is so new as to not be trustworthy. And if a person is going to make these assertions, they must provide benchmarking evidence to back that up since the claim contradicts the mountains of existing evidence that say otherwise.
I do not feel that the ZorinGroup are the baddies. They are not the villains.
What I do feel is that they are leading us with leading words. I feel that my trust has been broken.
They openly and specifically said that they will never limit the Zorin OS users.
Then they make choices that apply limits the Zorin OS users.
Repeatedly.
We are being told, silently, what we want. What we should accept. What we should have on our computers. With action statements, not written ones.
I cannot ethically show support to a distro that fails to show support to the wider GnuLinux community. We need the support and help to preserve and protect our diversity and choices and freedoms because the Big Players disregard feedback and push their will onto us.
