[ubuntu-studio-devel] Oh no, please not that again: Desktop Agnostic, Was: Re: Gedit

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Fri, 27 Nov 2015 08:41:56 +0100, Jonathan Aquilina wrote:
>enlightenment WM

It's a freakish WM. Even if it nowadays really should be 100% stable,
as claimed so often in the past, when it was not 100% stable. Even if it
nowadays should provide at least one neutral theme. Even if the
work-flow nowadays should be closer to GNOME2 and XFCE4 the it was in
the past, if you really want a lightweight WM, then why not using a WM
that has got a huger community, where more people can
contribute/recommend combinations with good panels, file browsers,
terminal emulations etc., such as openbox? If you want the most
lightweight WM that is stable, provides a neutral theme and that
provides a work-flow closer to GNOME2 and XFCE4, then why not using
JWM? There are far more WMs available that are a much better choice.
Enlightenment is a bad choice compared to other WMs. I tested several
WMs. FWIW you even could consider to use XFWM4 without XFCE4, nearly
everything is better then Enlightenment. However, I guess the averaged
user expects to get a WM, especially since Ubuntu Studio is not an
audio distro, it's an artist distro.

Btw. I'm using openbox and just in case have JWM installed, assumed
an update should break openbox. Both work as expected on Arch Linux,
but all WMs suffer on Ubuntu from the odd behaviour, that for some for
unknown reason the common files to set up fonts are ignored.

IMO it's wiser to stay with XFCE4 or to use Mate. I also tested several
DEs. Cinnamon is a no-go, KDE>=4 is a no-go, GNOME3 is a no-go. For my
needs Xfce4 became a no-go too and Mate is a no-go too, but Xfce4 and
Mate for averaged users who expect a DE, is the best choice. Note,
most artists dislike DEs and WMs that follow fashions for the work-flow
and for the themes. I'm aware that a few audio users like all that
crappy GUIs, such as the one of Guitarix, but most serious artists and
engineers want something that has got a neutral theme and that provides
an old faithful work-flow.

Imagine you're drawing, then the interaction of WM/DE themes is much
more important, since it not only affects the work-flow, the interaction
directly affects the drawing.

Unfortunately I can't pay for the original of Josef Albers's Interaction
of Color, but fortunately the Josef Albers Museum is in Bottrop, a
neighbour town of my home town Oberhausen, so when I was young and
learning, I often visited the museum.

If you watch the squares, you'll understand why neutral default themes
are important:

https://www.google.de/search?q=josef+albers&biw=1152&bih=709&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwil_YeBrbDJAhVIKg4KHT74AKkQ_AUIBigB

Again, the averaged user likely wants a DE, not a WM. Experienced users
anyway will set up their customized environments. As often mentioned in
the past, I bet that around 90% of experienced GUI terminal users
install roxterm, whatever WM/DE they are using, since all other
terminals are broken or they prefer something completely simple, such
as xterm, but quasi nobody will use something like xfce4-terminal,
gnome-terminal, konsole etc.. Keep it simple, as e.g xtrem or do it
perfectly comfortable, IOW care about resized windows etc., then use
roxterm. However, the averaged artist who installs an Ubuntu flavour
unlikely cares about this.

Another important argument is to consider not too often to switch the
default DE/WM and if you need to switch to another WM/DE, then it's the
best that users won't notice much difference. IOW stay with Xfce4 or
switch to something that is as close to Xfce4, as possible, so maybe
Mate. Enlightenment is so far away from Xfce4 compared to other WM,
that I'm absolutely against Enlightenment.

Regards,
Ralf
-- 
http://www.grundgesetz-gratis.de/