I started a Voting for changing the Base of Zorin OS and now, I want make the same with the Desktop Environment as Topic. We have here from Time to Time Discussions about the Gnome Desktop. So, we Zorin would decide ''Okay, we use something different'' what would You like? To be clear: It is only about personal Preference and not under the View of makeable Practise - of Course You can vote in this Point of View if You like. But in common, it is only a little ''What if'' Thing.
Voting Desktop Environment Change
Keep Gnome
Keep xfce
Switch to KDE
Switch to Budgie
Switch to Cinnamon
Switch to LxQT
Switch to MATE
0voters
NOTE: I know, there is Cosmic, but because it doesn't have a final Release yet, I ignore it for this. I know, Lite (xfce) will be kicked out, but because of some Popularity, I take it to vote for.
I voted for Budgie. It has the same decent minimalistic Look like Gnome - and I like that - but offers more Functions out of the Box. Yes, the Zorin-own Gnome Extension would be disappear which means that a lot of Work would be simply disappear. But I think Budgie could be a nice Alternative. And I would hope that changing the Theming for it wouldn't be too complicated because it is GTK-based, too.
I voted for Cinnamon. I almost voted for MATE, but it needs an overhaul. It's barely maintained anymore (unfortunate). And there are regressions the project leader hasn't fixed for over a year now. It's sad. I do particularly like MATE, to be honest, and its default look. It's genius. I don't know why people shifted from it. Dumb move. EDIT: I guess GNOME is OK, too, as long as Zorin keeps making it work.
I think your other post was valuable and hope that they do end up changing the core (base) to Debian.
But i personally don't think its a good idea to change the default desktop environment. Like everything else, there's always gonna be those that are not happy with this decision.
Here's why i think Gnome is the best choice for Zorin:
Ease of use out of the box
It looks good
No offense, but budgie looks so amateur. I have not used it, so i wouldn't know what else it offers, my opinion is based on how it looks.
I love KDE and would love to see that as the default desktop environment - but thinking about it, its not a good idea. Its best to keep Gnome.
KDE has an insane amount of customization.
New users may get overwhelmed with what it can do.
Like changing the Base, changing the DE would be definetely a big Step. There is no doubt about that.
Budgie offers by default built-in Customization Options. It goes not so far like KDE. It is more like ... how I describe it ... on Gnome, You have gnome-tweaks for Example. The Functions of that are already included in Budgie by default. The Possibility for Theming is there by default. On Gnome, You need the Gnome Extension ''User Themes''. That isn't neccessary in Budgie. And it comes with a Taskbar and a Start Menu out of the Box. What Zorin have to add as Gnome Extensions (mostly) offers Budgie out of the Box.
That shouldn't be an Offense. Only a little Explanation.
There's always gonna be those that are overwhelmed by customization.
The number of how many, is what matters.
Vanilla Gnome looks awful. Zorin OS makes it look pretty good.
And let's be honest... Is that a valid reason all by itself?
"I know the girl lies, is a kleptomaniac, is unfaithful, and talks bad about me behind my back.
But... She's a keeper. She sure looks good."
I have never found Gnome to be easy to use. In fact, looking over the forum, it seems a lot of people feel the same way. When you need to start a thread just to find out or figure out how to get the Desktop to work as you want it to...
Gnome goes for 'minimal' to the point where you cannot find the setting. Or they just remove that feature entirely.
I suppose you can call it 'easy to use' when the feature is not present to mess up.
Your tools, preferences, options, or workflow is hidden behind hamburgers, CSD's, obscure settings that do not show up in the GUI settings (gsettings) and gear icons that only show up after you jump through some hoops.
On other desktops, your tools are where you can find them, along with the path to them. Is... that the reason?
"It looks ugly. It looks dated."
No, it doesn't. It doesn't look "modern" by hiding my tools, but you know what... If people are going to claim that looks ugly or that looks dated, fine.
Give me Ugly and Dated that works instead of "sleek and modern and polished" and other inapplicable Buzzwords that inhibits workflow and navigating is like pulling teeth.
While it is indeed true that I regularly use Gnome on my Zorin OS, that is only cause I got all my gaming setup on it without issues, and because I have a performance machine that tells Gnome its got plenty of horse power to support it.
Believe it or not however, I also have Zorin OS Lite on my 2nd internal NVME drive, which is used as a backup, incase my Gnome installation with Zorin OS Pro, goes up in smoke, which I also use as another game storage drive for Steam BTW.
In a hypothetical however, If Zorin OS were to come out with Zorin OS 18, or some future installation beyond, and they chose to go with XFCE DE, I wouldn't be upset. Even a performance computer could gain at least a 10% boost in performance, usin said XFCE.
Now I wish to speak on behalf of most Linux users, who typically don't operate performance machines, and more typically operate on either 10 to 20 year old hardware, using Linux to breath new life into them, or, modern low performance grade notebooks.
In cases such as those, I truly believe XFCE, is the best way to go for very old computers, or very low performance modern computers. XFCE has a place in Linux future, and there is nothing wrong in getting away from Gnome, who likes to lock things down like Microsoft.
LxQT should actually be LXQt! I wanted to vote for KDE (Plasma) and LXQt! - the former as replacment for Gnome, and LXQt to replace xfce as both KDE (Plasma) and LXQt share the same libraries (Qt). Another valid alternative to xfce is Trinity Desktop Environment, 32-bit. I was impressed last night when I installed 32-bit printer drivers from Canon in my VM of Q4OS I used the OS's OSI installer instead of GDebi and they installed without a hitch and promptly identified the network connection of the printer which I made default.
Budgie could maybe work, but the Zorin Group would have to make sure the default theme works 100%. As it stands, the themes in Budgie on different distributions is inconsistent. Makes for a frustrating and confusing experience.
These new users come from Windows where you have (at least in Win10 and earlier) plenty of GUI customization options.
Plus given that they agree to try Linux (with it's fame of being for geeks/advanced users), I think it means these ex-windows users are not shy to experiment/customize.
Add to that that many ex-windows users don't like the restrictions that newer Windows versions started to impose on them.
As long as they are GUI options and well-organized, easily accessible, GIMME MORE.
I would very much welcome it if Zorin would equip XFCE with a more flexible start menu (Whisker-Menu), such as the whisker menu normally is the default menu in XFCE.
I found some issues with PCLOS Debian Budgie. Spotted some missing functionality now sorted, but I can't compare with other distros. For me a distribution needs to be one that is inclusive, by that I mean include users with limited abilities. In terms of print disabled users the first best inclusive version of GNU/Linux was either Trisquel 5.5 or 6.0 with the top menu item of the live desktop launching with the screen reader running. As of now the only distro that is all inclusive is Devuan which a blind user with a Brailliant device can install the OS with and again the installer works with a screen reader out of the box, guiding the installer verbally with what a sighted person can see. Trinity may be clunky but it does the job. Q4OS I would argue, has the best of everything for a sighted user. They offer 64-bit Plasma, and 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Trinity. Their software installer is very reminiscent, but unique, to what a Windows user would expect in respect of OSI.
Just to add I installed Q4OS Plasma on my good lady's machine I built in 2006 - MSI 2000 motherboard, AMD Athlon 64 single core CPU, 2 Gb RAM 400 Mhz (maximum), EVGA 512 Mb Fanless 8x AGP nvidia graphics running Nouveau driver.
For me, like I said in the other poll, it doesn't really make any difference which DE to use as long as it helps making Zorin OS better.
Gnome might have its flaws like any other piece of software out there but it still provides a decent experience overall. Switching away from it would be wasting the time and effort that the developers have invested in making it look and feel good, particularly to newcomers. Since I can only vote for one, as of today, I would stay with that option.
A close second would be Cinnamon simply because there's a whole distribution built around it, and so it has plenty of support. Although it would also need some work to make it look more attractive to newcomers. Same thing with XFCE... it's a shame this will be discontinued...
The one thing that I'm absolutely sure will be a disaster is if any distribution claiming to be beginner-friendly adopts KDE
I thought about giving 2 Votes but I wanted to come to a Decision for one specific Desktop.
Yes, sure. There would be the Question what would be easier: Make the Themes completely new for it or changing the already existing One's.
I think that this isn't wrong. But the Thing with Plasma is - at least in my own Experience: When You have that the first Time, it is a lot what You can do. That is a good Thing, but can be overwhelming especially at the Beginning. And to find the Stuff what You want/need if You are in a hurry because something doen't work well ... can be a bit nerv-wrecking, hahaha!
When it is finalized, it could be an Alternative depending how it will run and perform. When it is finalized ...
