this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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It was pretty much the same story for me (although much earlier, in the 1.2 days I think).
Gnome was great but you couldn't rely on anything. They loved removing stuff to make it more "lean" or changing it to match their "vision". They didn't care about their users, only their circlejerk.
I'm not sure it has changed a lot in since then. I'm glad I dropped that dumpster fire. I still have no idea why it's the default on so many systems.
At least there are many great options for those who want something else.
I think Gnome is great. The workflow is amazing imo, better than a clunky Windows-inspired UX, and it's nice to have a distro I can depend on being bug free without it being a project that moves too slowly.
And those trackpad gestures. Man. They make even Apple's trackpad gestures feel like you're using a £300 Acer laptop.
It's also nice to have a desktop that actually gives a shit about UX, distraction-free computing, and consistency. It's nice to have a desktop that encourages great third party apps that integrate well with the system and follow excellent design guidelines. It's nice to have a DE team that are ballsy enough to go against the Win95 UX paradigm and does its own thing, despite knowing they'll get extreme amounts of hate for it.
Just because it's not your cup of tea doesn't mean it's a dumpster fire or they hate their users and are doing a circlejerk.
We don't struggle with the idea of "Arch is too bleeding edge for me, so I won't use it, but cool project nonetheless" or "Debian is too outdated for me, so I won't use it, but cool project nonetheless", so what is it about DEs - or tbh more accurately, Gnome specifically - that has people being like "this isn't what I want, therefore it's a piece of SHIT. Why do they hate their users? Why do the users use it? Don't they realise the devs hate them??"
This elitist, tribal mentality is one of the worst parts about the Linux community, and is, ironically, a circlejerk of its own.
/rant
You're comparing Gnome and distributions which isn't a very good comparison. Firstly because distributions are pretty much interchangeable, despite what people say, as they all pretty much do the same thing and install the same software, and secondly because Gnome has some history behind it.
In the early days, there wasn't really much of a choice as far as desktop environments were concerned. You had a few fairly nice (for the time window managers), but if you wanted something integrated, there was Gnome or KDE. And KDE relied on the non free (at the time Qt). However Gnome kept changing and breaking stuff. The users kept asking the devs not to do it, and the devs quite literally told them to fuck off. A good number of people grew resentful towards the whole project around that time (and notably towards de Caza, who managed the whole thing). Soon enough Qt was freed, and many moved to KDE where the devs listened to users, where the concept was to empower and not to coerce. The difference was simply amazing.
I just suspect that you came in late to the show. I've had Linux on my desktop for close to 30 years now. So maybe Gnome got better, but it's too late. They burned their bridges. As far as I'm concerned, it's their turn to fuck off.
Now you know why there's bad feelings towards them.