Re: What Window Manager/Desktop Environment do you use, and why?

On 2025-06-10, Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam1118@zugschl.us> wrote:

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

In other words, the difference in installation defaults is there precisely
to cater to those whom I mentioned above, who don’t realize that you have
configuration options.

>
And this is sending the wrong message.
>
I also blame the media, who set a totally wrong emphasis on the ease
of installation, chastizing distributions for asking questions during
installation, not being aware that this is giving CHOICE to the user¹,
and only test the "default desktop", even calling it "X's desktop".
>
Greetings
Marc
>
¹ the user may be overwhelmed by the amount of questions an installer
asks, but alas, this is rocket science, isn't it?
>

The installation of Linux today is quite different to when I first
installed it.

Many things are easier, but one thing I found was that the option to
install different software was less obvious.  My first Linux
installation gave me a choice to install GNOME and KDE and other Window
Managers.  The choice was there upfront.  I chose GNOME as it was
selected, and KDE wasn't and I didn't see the point in installing a
second, initially.

It isn't much easier today.  Now some distros have spins, so it appears
that if you want a different DE, then you need to download an entirely
different installation image.  The choice has just been moved from
within the installer to one that is made before installation, which in
my view, is even more confusing.