Not sure why System76 is going this route... Everyone is clamouring for a high quality Linux laptop and instead they're using subpar Clevo laptops and creating a new distro (with a bad case of NIH) that no one asked for...
The hardware they did make seems nice (desktop case and keyboard), dunno why they aren't parleying that into making their own laptops. Like, why buy their current laptops over a ThinkPad (which you know will be supported by Fedora since that's still what's popular at IBM) or an HP/Dell developer laptop, or any of the other "known to work" laptops?
>...and creating a new distro (with a bad case of NIH) that no one asked for
Eh, after suffering through many Gnome We-Know-Best design decisions, I would be happy for a new entrant in the space that was user focused on creating the best possible experience. An immensely tall order, but I think the demand is there.
IMO Gnome IS the best user experience. And KDE is always there if you want more customization.
I'm not necessarily against a new distro and new desktop but it does seem like they're abandoning hardware for no apparent reason...
> IMO Gnome IS the best user experience.
I laughed out loud at that. In fact TBH I didn't just laugh, I guffawed.
Thanks for the entertainment. :-D
So do you prefer the Linux DE that looks and acts like Windows Vista or one of the 10 that looks and acts like Gnome 2?
https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/linux_desktop_feature...
My personal preference, and what I'm writing on right now, is Unity.
I am also very fond of the ROX Desktop.
What would I really like to see? Well, barring attempts to just rip up everything and start again for no good reason, I think there would be a lot of mileage in recreating some of the classic UIs of the past that many people have loved.
* Classic MacOS was a sublime UI, with a lot of subtle non-obvious features. In its way it was far more polished than Mac OS X, even now.
* OS/2 2.x's Workplace Shell was not one of my personal favourites, but it had some excellent design features, and was loved by many.
* I have an Amiga but I never was a big fan back in the day, but a good solid modern Amiga Workbench clone would have some mileage, and as I said in the article, there are already FOSS implementations, just not for xNix.
* GEM is FOSS now. Why not recreate DR's multitasking GEM/X on Linux, or any of the late-era multitasking GEM desktops from the Atari ST, such as Thing or TeraDesk?
One of my favourite UIs is undergoing a pretty good re-implementation effort, in the form of NeXTspace:
https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace
There are more than half a dozen non-Windows-like desktop metaphors. Is that enough for you or shall I find some more? :-)