All D.E.'s come pre-configured.
Yes.
Let me offer you a reason that has a lot to do with why this thread exists:
Because people have been convinced that either MS or Gnome are somehow different or special.
With wording promoted that is different or special.
There are things I like about Gnome. There are things I dislike about XFCE or Cin or KDE.
This is not along the lines of "XFCE rules, Gnome Drools."
What it is; is that users that promote Gnome are highly likely to call it polished - when I have made strong and valid points demonstrating that Gnome lacks polish compared to other D.E.'s and those same users are highly likely to call other D.E.'s like XFCE "ugly" or "Outdated."
Users that say other D.E.s are ugly, etc are likely to describe Gnome as "Modern, Smooth, sleek..." I Also notice a trend that KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, etc users tend to not use these vague and leading terms.
I would like to address why these terms are used by one crowd, but not the other. These are leading words, specifically for the purpose of influencing others to agree with them for fear of not being up to date or modern enough. For fear of being someone that likes ugly things, so they had better get with the times.
Why do people stay with Microsoft Windows? Because it is Modern? Sleek? Smooth? GOOD?
It is most often because they do not know anything different and fear that change.
Not because Windows is Good.
It's what is familiar, what they are used to... It's not good but at least they know how to use it. Which is what Makes Zorin OS different as a distro - and a very important Distro.
Please remember: I have used Windows most of my life. I only recently made the change to Linux. And it was hard.
I had to confront much about myself and no one likes doing that.
I had to learn a lot of new things and that was time consuming.
I had to accept a lot of change and I dislike change.
These things made me want to go back to Windows and had I had a Windows Disk, I probably would have.
I notice a trend that as users on this forum begin to believe in themselves and trust themselves, they begin to have a much easier time integrating into and enjoying Linux.
And if Gnome is emulating Microsoft dogma and tactics... Then that very important feature is being removed.
Not at all.
A poll of Opinions is not going to scientifically weigh the facts. It will only assert opinions. I am not as interested in opinions, I am interested in a debate that will actively examine the assumptions. That will actively reveal the important and necessary reasons for opinions, rather than creating an atmosphere of feeling entitled to ones opinions.
Losing, does not concern me. If I lose a debate, that means that my assumptions were questioned and found wanting and that allows me to learn and progress. Losing a debate can be helpful and beneficial. Losing ego only makes a person upset.
@StarTreker did not get his mouth zipped. Treker was calling Zorin OS LIte "Broken" and "Unstable" and this was confronted due to these particular statements being inaccurate. Zorin OS Lite 16 had just been released and these inaccurate descriptions were harmful to allowing users to consider Zorin OS 16 - In short, that was unfair of Treker. No one Zipped his mouth - three of us directly Asked Star Treker, repeatedly, to consider his wording and to try to be a bit more fair. And to be fair, Treker did edit some posts and try to.
I am still trekers Friend. Whether Treker is mine is up to Treker. But I did not wrong Treker,; Treker chose Trekers own path. The downside of exchanging Friendship is that it allowed me to treat Treker differently, allowing Treker to get away with more. Treker was getting a bias from me.
I understand your perspective elegant - but this is a rather Low-Blow. You are getting very personal here and you are also misrepresenting what had happened. And Treker is not deleted or removed... He merely put that on his profile himself. He is taking some time off by his own choice. I have done this before, too. In this time, he can reflect and think about all these things. He can also see clearly that disagreeing with others is the mark of friendship. And no one who pretends to agree for a friendship truly values it.
Productivity:
On Gnome, when I open a new window, for example, Inkscape, GIMP or many other things I work with, it opens as minimized on the taskbar. I find this infuriating and it cuts heavily into my productivity.
This does not happen on Cinnamon or XFCE or KDE.
On these other desktops, when I open something in a new Window- that window opens and I can get right to work inside that window instead of hunting that window down.
This is One Example. I cannot list all the examples considering how long my posts are getting... But we can go one at a time.
Once these infuriating things happen, I wish to change that setting. I couldn't find it. i still haven't found it. Since I have a choice - other options, I just use XFCE or Cinnamon.
Perhaps a user may educate me on where that setting is. On Gnome, when I go to use any tool - the tool bar is gone. I need to chase after my tools that are hidden inside of hamburgers.
And many of those setting found on toolbars and on menubars are just not in the cramped hamburgers of Gnome. This is not good for productivity.
Gnomes philosophy is that the UI needs to get out of the users way opening up Precious Screen Real Estate.
This is the opposite of reality. Most of gnomes apps and windows waste huge swaths of screen real estate with empty space, while removing the toolbars I need to have fast and productive access to My Tools.
Others call this toolbar that increases workflow "Ugly". Does this make any valid sense, at all?
Really and a reminder to all:
The question is:
Gnome is pushed as being More User Friendly, not ugly like other D.E.'s, more polished... And so on. Does it truly fit this bill? We can argue the pros and cons of Gnome vs other D.E.'s and we can demonstrate the Good that is in Gnome as well as the bad in others, easily. But that is not really the question. The question is, is Gnome as it is described?
Confronting this is very important to Linux, to users old and new.
Some of Gnomes direction is being taken, and those of us that can enjoy Gnome due to being able to customize it to our productive workflow or to our comfort or liking are LOSING this ability.
LibAdwaita removes Orchis theme. You are not allowed to use it because Gnome says they do not want you to.
Many of us that rely heavily on and enjoy Gnome Extensions... are LOSING that ability. Gnome voiced a strong desire to stop theming. They deliberately (and they admitted this) altered the gtk toolkit with each release to break user themes until version 3.20 when the stakeholders for Gnome made Gnome sign a pledge agreeing to stop breaking themes. After 3.20, themes stopped breaking. But Gnome got to work on LibAdwaita which sidesteps that pledge by halting all custom theming.
Now... Gnome development has voiced Gnome-Extension "hacks" as their next target.
Consider this direction. Consider it very Carefully.
And if some of you believe that The Microsoft way Works: That controlling Users by dumbing it all down and restricting freedom... and that Gnome should emulate this... Then you are Imposing Your Beliefs and Your Will on the rest of us.
The vast majority of users here seek to get away from that... Only to find it being promoted here, now?
