I was looking for something completely different but found this latest article on techrights.org illuminating:
I don't think this is the best argument to ditch GNOME. Assuming the tax filings are accurate, they're at least moving in the right direction with a net positive in 2024. Corporations like Canonical and RHEL/Fedora are not going to let GNOME go under since the latter especially bases their enterprise workstations on GNOME. From a quick glance, the expenses for the Foundation seem reasonable. If anything, they're not paying their people much at all. I don't see anything shady going on here from the tax filings alone.
That said, I think a better argument would be: What's the purpose of Zorin? Is it to help people switch to Linux from Windows? If so, there's a DE out there right now called Plasma that offers the best Windows-like experience you can get on Linux. Fine-tuning and tweaking that would (IMO) be easier and cause fewer issues than a heavily-modified GNOME DE.
Zorin 18 was not good for Zorin. Many of the people in this forum who have been on Zorin for years have migrated to a different distro or - if they haven't - they are still on 16 or 17. I think much of that is because heavily modifying GNOME is becoming more problematic with each release. I would like to see Zorin 19 make a bold move by stepping away from GNOME for the sake of stability, customization, etc.
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And that is the stronger argument. Modifying Gnome will increasingly get harder.
Gnome wanted to kill user themes for years - met a lot of resistance and cooled it until GTK4 and LibAdwaita. That cemented their footing in place - the next step (and confirmed as Gnomes officially stated plan) is to remove .css support.
The Gnome Foundations attitude toward Gnome Extensions is equally as antagonistic. Many Gnome Developers have expressed a desire to do away with Gnome Extensions, insisting that the extension developers submit their extensions directly to Gnome to include in the shell (Which is complete nonsense since many of these extensions were created to replace what Gnome cut from the shell...)
Will Gnome remove extension support? Not right away.
But... All the indications show that Yes, They Will.
As it is, Using Extensions on Gnome can be fragile, though it is more stable on Zorin OS than a rolling distro.
And Extension Developers are heavily taxed in their efforts to keep them swiftly updated to Gnome Changes. Changes that are made In Order to Discourage Extensions, mind you. They are not necessary to improve Gnome or anything. They just break the unwanted extensions.
Even still, some extensions conflict with others - and for New Migrants from Windows OS - they are not going to know to match extension versions. That gives them a needless headache.
Plus extension breakage is often not intuitive. The symptoms you see after does not obviously seem to stem from an extension.
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I really hope that they strongly consider a move to KDE. And I say that as someone who, frankly, doesn't love KDE either. But you can do a LOT of the exact same styling there to make it the same, but with a lot less of the headaches involved. It does mean they would have to redo their efforts in creating their themes and layouts, but it also means that the vast majority of users would have a much smoother experience.
I was talking to a coworker today who actually brought this up to me (he's in his mid 60s now). He happens to use Gnome, and has for years, but he simply said he's noticed it's becoming more and more Microsoft-like, and he has been getting less thrilled with it as time goes on. For now he plans on using it still, and in his words "it's still way better than this ■■■■ [points to a windows PC]", but he's definitely looking at using KDE, even though his times with it in the past weren't to his liking.
I know that's a sample size of "1" but I take his opinion fairly highly in this regard as someone who has been using Linux daily for something like 3-4 decades, and still has an old laptop running Slackware from the 90s for one piece of hardware he still has, and just doesn't connect it to the internet.
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My comment on ditching Gnome was not just about Financial standing. They have already disrespected print-disabled users by referring to them as "concerned trolls" and if you go beyond the financials on that link they are not an Equal Opportunities employer when it comes to employing women developers.
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If were talking about Gnome 50, yes, its time to ditch Gnome, and any distro which supports Gnome 50. We left Microslop to get away from the corporate control. Gnome 50 puts us all right back in it, just with a different label attached.
I have to agree - and I'm not a Plasma Fan, too. They have some really nice Program but the Desktop and their File Manager isn't mine. For Beginners it could be a bit difficult to get such a lot of Settings to tweak with. But at least it is there and You can make a lot of Stuff the graphical Way, too.
I like the Look of Gnome. I like the clean minimalist Design. But I wouldn't use Gnome without Extensions. Vanilla Gnome ... Every Time when I use a Debian Install with Gnome and I have Vanilla Gnome the Beginning is simply awful for me.
I found a While ago someone who creates a new Desktop Environment called Singularity Destop. I find this Project pretty interesting. So, I will see how this will be.
There is Cosmic which is a nice Thing, too. But to be honest, it isn't my Cup of Tea either.
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Exactly. The first time I tried out Fedora Workstation I was blown away with how awful vanilla GNOME is. I had no idea. That said, I think it's fair to say that GNOME builds a solid workstation DE. The less easy it is to modify it, the better it is for corporate and government usage. The biggest customer of RHEL is the US government, and a tightly controlled DE is crucial there. So, GNOME has its place, but it just happens to not be for the average consumer desktop.
I've still got Ubuntu 24.04 on one computer, but I'm experimenting with KDE Plasma on another computer to see how that goes. I'm liking it so far!
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