Yes, this is on bare metal on my main machine same where I had Tumbleweed earlier. I'm not sure what's krunner, but I recorded that right after installing on Firefox so I didn't install anything.
Even if those are all true (I'm surprised about the performance, I don't agree with that one), XFCE definitely is more stable and has less things getting in the way.
Oh, It's not just me, then?
When I have tried, they technically work, but have strange borders around them or appear a completely different color on KDE.
Gotta agree with @zenzen regarding stability. There're always something that crashes in KDE when I try it. And I'm not doing something crazy, more like moving the panel and such things.
Aye, and I haven't no clue why.
I am just saying what I know and what I tried .
I used on Arch KDE for almost 5 months, xfce 1 month. And never had any issues with KDE.
even I tried to use i3 or bspwm instead of KWin.
But yeah, it really depends, from which distro, type and specs of the laptops etc
Just gave a try to saving a download on a VM of Nobara KDE.
Behavior was as expected, no loss of focus when changing directories.
Search was a bit weird. I had to change to the "Your Files" (home I guess) choice below the search input box. Worked fine. Don't know if its stick or it defaults to "From Here" on reopening.
I'll see how the Tux Kde behaves after install.
By the way, KRunner is the search from desktop functionality. Just start typing on the desktop and a search will start up.
I think popOS has something like it.
So much to learn, so quickly forgotten!
I wish the Mrs knew how to do cross stitch I would have her make a sampler for me with that on it and hang it right above my computer where I could see it every time I fired it up ....
But I did write it on the cover of my terminal command notebook .... 
Maybe it's just how TuxedoOS implements KDE, or maybe other distributions are the ones modifying this behavior?
Well, I don't know, but not a big issue for me anyway.
Btw, I really like that krunner trick thanks!
Keeping a computer as a computer is essential for productive work flow. We use our computers for computing. We use mobile as fast access, quick snippets and entertainment sitting on the bus
You are likely quite right in the majority of cases.
However I know of many people who use their mobile as a business tool - rarely if ever use a computer.
My wife for example uses a tablet as her main business tool, but takes her synced mobile when she is away or at meetings etc. We had a developer who used her I-phone for her work. Of course they also use it for watching vids etc sitting on the subway.
Perhaps the lockdowns during Covid helped push this, for a while, the 8 or 10 inch slab thing was one of the top sellers during this period.
Students too, from middle school to university mostly seem to use tablets, probably because of the weight difference to an equally powered laptop.
The last 2 paras are just my guess.
.
But perhaps we should ask why this is true- if it is.
The answer is likely because they have been conditioned to think so, even if unconsciously.
This "believe me, trust me, you can't do it, I am here to think for you" soft sell is becoming more apparent today.
What area of business are they in?
For most office tasks a desktop/laptop with a keyboard is far more ergonomic and productive. Having multiple programs running at once in the same screen for example is not something easily done on tablets. Nor it is comfortable or nearly as useful due to the limited screen real state.
Another example are keyboard shortcuts, like copy, paste or undo. And that's just the simplest, most basic ones and already are so incredibly useful.
I know people who do this, when they are on the move. But I very seriously doubt that was the main tool used for programming.
Even if it was, I would argue that 1) she's missing out, and therefore not as productive, and 2) is extremely rare.
Size and weight are most definitely a factor, this already was true decades ago. In my opinion the main reason is rather simple: that's the only format they know.
Everyone born in the last ~20 years has been far more exposed to mobiles and tablets than to laptop and desktops. They simply haven't had the chance to compare the ergonomics of the two.
It's not that you can't use a mobile device for "everything" but the main selling point is the convenience of mobility. Desktop and laptops computer offer a format with more power, and the keyboard offers greater ergonomics. If that tradeoff is more beneficial or not is up to each one of us to decide.
My post wasn't to decry or run down desk top notebooks perse. Just pointing out that there are some among us for whom the latter are not a priority in their work, therefore as users become younger, Zorin's quest might not be so radial and crazy?
I'll leave to others to refute some of your points if they feel like it.
As you say trade offs if any are up to the individual.
Absolutely, I use all the tools I have at my disposal. I'm certainly curious about their decisions and arguments in favor on mobile devices for productivity work over a desktop or laptop.
I'm not sure what do you mean by this, however:
After browsing through this topic, i'd like to highlight something that rarely gets a mention. There are thousands of developers, coders and various other people who donate their time and expertise to create a free product, and ongoing support. A thankless job, and more often than not, criticism and abuse.
One thing i would like to see in the Linux world is more co-operation between developers. It's sad to see Distro's end and being forked into other projects. More and more Distro's to choose from is really not using all these resources efficiently.
Sadly this is human nature, as people will always disagree, and have different opinions.
Summing up, i would be quite happy using just about any Distro, as i have tried many and thank the developers for their good work.
So my answer to the original topic.
I was using Ubuntu Mate . i wanted to try out the extension "burn my windows", so i installed Zorin on a second computer with the extension, and decided to stick with it. I'm happy with Zorin, but if it didn't exist i'd be happy going back to Mate.
Especially free of charge ! It's not a matter of switching because I actively use Zorin 16 with Budgie, Solus Budgie , and Ubuntu Budgie. Glad to see the Solus team reunited and committed to a great semi rolling disto again.
Recently tried Ubuntu DDE with the Deepin DE and it really needs a bare metal installation for proper testing.
Elementory OS or Ubuntu Studio. I can't pick one up between them. Both works great for me. Studio has a lot of application support and runs smoothly. Elemetory os is more minimalistic.
Zorin has lot of app support besides being minimalistic.
@Aravisian: Thanks for taking care and following up. I have solved the issue in the meantime. I found a Windows ppd-file, that I could modify to get it working with Zorin OS.
I'm about 2 months into my testing of TuxedoOS (an Ubuntu-derived KDE DE distro), and I've learned a few things. Here are some observations in no particular order of importance:
Installation- was easy, and I ended up with a plain vanilla KDE install with a slightly modified Breeze theme. I ran with this for the first month, while getting my basic functionality set up.
Networking- no problems with wireless connectivity. The usual problems with SMB not detecting my NAS until I typed in the URL for it. Then the files shares appeared and worked from the dolphin file manager. A surprise was in store however in that backup software could not access these shares. I ended up modifying fstab to mount an NFS share at boot, with a netdev switch to avoid a hand if I was away from the network (I'm testing on a laptop computer).
Software- Tuxedo was a fairly light distro, with enough tools to get going. Installation of other software, either through the software store, or a couple of debs for my printer and scanner worked well. Discover software store is much faster than the Gnome store. Flatpaks and AppImages were no problem. Updates are a couple times a week, and have been pretty fast. Usual nonsense with multiple Nvidia drivers (related to Flatpaks no doubt).
KDE Plasma- I prefer the KDE DE for my needs. Stupid search behavior on Gnome file manager is gone (see earlier posts), Dolphin works well and is easily configured. I also am finding the built in backups using Kdup to be working well with both my NAS and an internal drive on the laptop. Tuxedo also came with an overide to the sleep functionality, so no need for Cafeinne to be used.
Cloud- one big annoyance I have it that connecting to a google account via KDE is broken. It's not a huge deal, I use Overgrive for syncing my drive folder, works fine, but there is a widget I'd like to use in the toolbar for displaying the google calendar, and it's a no go.
DE Customization and theming- It's definitely a strong point with KDE, although it can be a bit confusing at times. Switching themes is pretty easy, and mostly self contained. Many elements can also be customized, however it's not always easy to find where to do what.
Support- for Tuxedo, it's not present. They have a rather unresponsive redditt channel, but it's mostly for their hardware support. Some good documentation on their website, but no forum. I'd have been better off using MX Linux for my tests. Oh well!
All in all, it's been an eye opener. I still recommend Zorin OS for the balance of good looks, stability and support. I wish it was more suited to running Plasma, but overall Zorin is still a better distro for most.
I used and tested KDE.
Some distribution have a diffrent desktop enviroment design. All are near the same.
I tested rolling release on Fedora with spin Cinnamon.
On vm I have mx linux - very cool.
So the users used linux distribution to them preferences.
Arch i used but not liked.
That is important testing many distributions and testing them.
Then you can choose what you preffer. Mostly testing 6 months or more. Then changing because they are boring. Mostly what i testing is stable and usable. Of course must be friendly for people.
Linux is big and that is good idea to testing something to know what is best suit for you.
Did you switch to KDE after a clean install? Or did you go from a long running install?
Thanks