I tried the same atomic budgie recently - love budgie compared to any other desktop environment, but I could not figure out how to install non flatpak programs.
I have never seen anything about “layering”, and couldn’t install essential software that happens to only be distributed as a .deb/.rpm file without help from chatgpt, toolbox, and manually installing probably 30 dependencies by basically guess and check.
Until rpm-ostree has an actual like wiki or manual or until fedora has articles on how to deal with these issues I don’t know how many people could use it, especially normal users.
But only if it results in reclaimed vertical real estate! Vertical tabs in edge is a a net loss in screen space, which makes it pointless in my opinion