The most popular desktop environment is usually XFCE.
The most popular desktop environment is usually XFCE.
I tried it when Ubuntu came with the default setup. I disliked it, but later realized many of my negative thoughts about Unity were also in the newer Gnome versions, so changing back didn’t really help.
Modern Gnome appears to have been significantly shaped by Unity... it doesn't offer a pleasant experience. MATE remains an active fork of the original Gnome, so those who enjoyed Gnome will likely feel comfortable there.
Well, I’m not sure how this connects to the old Gnome version, since the first Ubuntu I used featured Unity. Before that, my Linux interface experience was from the late 90s—no idea what distribution or version it was.
Mostly it comes down to personal taste. For professional use I favor vanilla GNOME, though few distros include it by default. Fedora is a solid choice—it’s unobtrusive and keyboard-friendly. The overview feature also appeals to me. The main drawback with GNOME is GTK3’s lack of official theming support and the outdated target stylesheet. For tweaking, KDE Plasma with Latte Dock is popular, especially the upstream versions for frequent updates. KDE Neon, Manjaro, and Arch are also strong options.
I've experimented with numerous desktop environments, yet I consistently choose KDE. It offers the most flexibility for personalization—appearing similar to Windows 10 by default, yet you can tailor it to resemble MacOS, GNOME, or any unique aesthetic. It's lighter than GNOME, though it has some minor issues in my opinion.
GNOME works well for touch devices, but it doesn’t fit other contexts much.
Surely. I find Gnome 3 a bit off my taste, though I haven't used it much. Gnome 2, on the other hand, does a great job being clear and easy to use without being too intrusive. This is exactly what DEs should aim for. They should launch smoothly, be quick and straightforward, yet step back so I can focus on my tasks.
I agree with @pythonmegapixel . Some other gripes in conflict with my workflow I've noticed with the Gnome (GTK) camp: Dumbing down the interface too much. Simplicity can be desirable, but should not be done too much at the cost of versatility (but - in the end what is "too much" is an opinion). Sometimes the versatility could be "hidden" (this is the optimal case), so it is not intrusive if the user only needs simple, very basic functionality. But in case of Gnome, the versatility is just missing altogether. There were many features, which were too barebones (sadly I haven't taken notes of my experiences and don't remember details). With this I mean standard fare UI features from windows 95 and onwards era are just missing or impossible to do. KDE Plasma (and earlier iterations of KDE) meets this "bare minimum" to a much better degree. But: I can see the experience can vary a lot according to every individual users preferences. Gnome (not to mention Unity) never made me feel like at home on the DE, in any case. But then, the biggest gripe and the dealbreaker: the dreaded gtk file dialogs . I mean ... it's borderline unusable. It offers no intuitive way to browse folder hierarchies, it offers no intuitive way to type in folder and/or file names either (it tries to be smart and predict what I write, but fails by being too intrusive with it's guesses). What is it actually good for? Nothing! When I'm forced to face a GTK file dialog, I just bypass the file dialog (press enter and let it use the default file name), fire up a terminal and do my file handling / organization / renaming from there (to me, this is an obvious failure of a file dialog; it should be easier than the command line). To load a file, I run the application with a crappy file dialog from the terminal with the file name as a parameter. A file dialog could be a minor thing, but the default one of a DE is everywhere, very often used, and not easy/impossible to replace with some other dialog. I have no idea how they could have failed with a file dialog so badly. Alternative explanation is, it's just me: I have loads of files and many folders (way more than most other users), and non-average ways of using a GUI. Somehow I just find it hard to believe. (still: this is a subjective experience / opinion). </RANT> Edited November 4, 2020 by Wild Penquin Typo. Admitting to ranting! XD