Let's talk about desktop environments.

[remoulder]

not willing to give up my huge monitor for a little tablet screen

But this is the very point I'm trying to get over, maybe we just won't need screens at all in the future? Or keyboards or mice, .. or desktops! Who knows what's being thought of in research labs even as we speak? We sometimes read in the media about such and such development, think I read where scientists were developing direct brain - computer interfaces, but what about the stuff we don't read about? Who knows, perhaps we won't need any screen but our own imagination and just think about words and images to manipulate them? We've already got the computer interface demonstrated in Minority Report, how far away did that look at the time 10 years ago? Tablet devices were demonstrated in Startrek set hundreds of years in the future but are here now! To discuss how one screen button is better than a different one seems akin to discussing whether VHS or Betamax is better!

[exploder]

remoulder, I really have to thank you for the eye opening comments about change, you are absolutely right! In the future the desktops we are using are going to be like antiques and my kids are going to be asking me how we ever used those big clunky slow things. I can't believe I couldn't see the trends! Canonical is actually at the head of the pack with the Ubuntu phone concept. I am sure there are others working on their own concepts but after seeing the demonstrations of the Ubuntu phone, it really is a good start toward the future of computing.

The Raspberry Pie and other similar devices are being developed and this would help to keep electronics out of the landfills. remoulder, your comments about past computers and where things are now hit me like a ton of bricks and I want to thank you for waking me up to what is going on around me. All this makes sense from manufacturing all the way to the end user. Things are going to keep on changing weather it is operating systems or computers themselves. Even if we have gotten off the original topic, you have given me some very interesting things to think about and consider. Thanks!

[exploder]

This looks compelling.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/10/para ... r-everyone

This technology would certainly solve the need for processing power in a small device.

[remoulder]

Funny you mention raspberry pii and supercomputers! how about this?

[exploder]

Awesome!

[cwsnyder]

I haven't read the whole thread, but I am expecting to see in the next 10 years a computer which can do what today's desktops can do, only the size of a small tablet or smartphone with a projected display, touch/gesture control, and a projected keyboard for finer control and text input, as needed. Who needs a touch display if you are using something similar to the 'Minority Report' type controls? Your display could either be projected on a flat surface for interaction (or 3D hologram) or on your Google Glasses, or something similar for greater privacy (I want one like Arnold Schwarzenegger had in the Terminator movies!)

All of these technologies have been demonstrated already, it is just combining them, standardizing, and getting the costs down.

[Z-Xylon]

Since we are talking about desktop environments, in the future, I hope to create my own, probably as a learning exercise.

Firstly though, what is a desktop environment anyway? From one article I read (http://maketecheasier.com/easily-create ... 2010/08/10) , I get the impression that it is basically a window manager along with a few applications. In this case, how do you remove the window managers existing panels and applications? For example, how does a DE running on Openbox remove the right-click menu?

[Knuckl3head]

I HATE the new Unity Interface. I will use ANYTHING else, just not Unity. Especially with their new "Search Amazon" feature.

[Z-Xylon]

Why do people dislike Unity so much? I love it purely because Unity != Windows (Unity is not Windows). In fact, when I new nothing about Linux (i.e. I thought Ubuntu = LInux) I used to try to make Windows XP look like Unity because I thought it was different.

[Adelante]

I don't hate Unity, which I think keeps improving, and clearly a whole lot of people like it. I just don't like it enough to choose it over others. To me, it's inefficient and clumsy and overstuffed. To a good friend of mine, it's everything he wants and I'm glad it exists for him. Hating on a desktop seems like a waste of time and energy to me. Just pick something you like better and be happy.

[uhgreen]

Why do people dislike Unity so much? I love it purely because Unity != Windows (Unity is not Windows). In fact, when I new nothing about Linux (i.e. I thought Ubuntu = LInux) I used to try to make Windows XP look like Unity because I thought it was different.

There are lots of reasons people dislike Unity. The great thing about Linux is that there are many different DEs that one can choose. Right now I'm running LMDE with Mate, two panels and a different theme than the mint default (I forget which theme name exactly). It looks almost exactly like Gnome 2. Yeah, I like Gnome 2 and found a way to make my desktop work in a similar way. Problem solved. No use in bashing Unity or wishing it didn't exist. Frankly, if Canonical could get Unity to perform better and if Compiz didn't blow, I would consider Unity as my primary DE. I guess, for me, its not a paradigm of Unity that I dislike, its how it performs.

Anyway, I just hope everybody can find something that works for them!

[chdslv]

I like Unity and Gnome-shell.
Cinnamon is okay, but somewhat old-fashioned. MATE, I won't touch.
What I really like is Android x86 DE and wish someone would make something like that for Linux.
I know Android is based on Linux...

[homerscousin]

I'm just looking forward to the day when I can look at my desktop computer and normal size monitor and see everything on the screen in true 3d with realtime ray-tracing. All my buttons and tabs with raised lettering. I can wait for the brain thing.

[axel668]

the separation of desktop and OS is a great strength of Linux, I'd really wish I could just switch to XFCE on my Windows7 PC at work ...
you could argue if it's really necessary to have all these VERY similar DE's like Mate / XFCE / LXDE / Cinnamon / KDE but that's the idea of OpenSource -
if you don't it, just make your own

[addegsson]

I've used Unity for some time now and it really grows on me. I'd like other project such as Gnome Shell, KDE, Pantheon and Cinnamon but Unity is my number one.

[cwsnyder]

the separation of desktop and OS is a great strength of Linux, I'd really wish I could just switch to XFCE on my Windows7 PC at work ...

You actually could have KDE on your Windows desktop.

[Knuckl3head]

Well, with a temporary switch to CentOS, I think ima gonna try Linux Mint 13 with the MATE Desktop.

[tdockery97]

I've used Unity for some time now and it really grows on me. I'd like other project such as Gnome Shell, KDE, Pantheon and Cinnamon but Unity is my number one.

I have to admit, now that I have gone back to try Unity again on Ubuntu 12.04.1, that it is not as bad as I first thought. It was really a matter of not seeing the forest for the trees. I was one who used docks (particularly Cairo Dock) a lot in the past. Now that I look again at the Unity Desktop it is merely a dock stuck to the left side instead of the bottom of the screen. As I get into it more, I am finding that I am getting used to the global menu idea, as it gives a more uniform functioning across the installed applications. And it is not as difficult to get around and/or configure as I first thought it to be.

While I still like Cinnamon as my primary desktop (it feels like a cross between Gnome and KDE), I also like to have Ubuntu with unity onboard for things like Ubuntu One with its 5GB of free storage.

[richardsdma]

we have a big problem in linux enviroment, it si named: personal pride.
due to the fact that linux has only 1% on the market, i dont see any reason to have DE like mate, cinnamon, etc.
it is a shame for me to see a DE like cinnamon on mint 13, a distribution that it must have been very stable, a LTS. i use mint 13 with gnome-shell and i can tell you that is way more stable than cinnamon.
i dream about the day when linux developers will pass over personal pride and focus on fewer DE/apps who have the potential to be very stable. i am talking about gnome-shell, xfce and kde.

[abnvolk]

Oh, GNOME... Maybe it's stable, but I must admit that GNOME 3.6 is not a good release. I don't talk about the Shell, but the applications with features being removed. For example, recently I'm thinking about Cinnarch - an Arch distro with Cinnamon - and installed it on my system. It has all GNOME 3.6 applications.
The background setting menu was disappointing - if you want your background to be a solid color, you cannot pick it, but instead choose from the default colors. I can't understand why.
I have to use iBus, because I have to type Vietnamese, Korean and Esperanto. iBus is being integrated to the keyboard module in Control Center, and thanks to the unstable iBus in Arch repo, I cannot type anything else than English. I had to choose a keyboard layout, but I can't get used to it. SCIM and Fcitx cannot do anything, either.
As for Nautilus, many people have talked about useful features being removed because they don't work well with touch devices.
And every 6 months, GTK3 breaks compatibility with itself, so there are less and less GTK3 theme every release. After each upgrade, my themes are broken! Seems that GTK are trying to eliminate theme developers. "Can't keep up with the latest GTK3? Well, you're out!"
I have used Xfce, KDE, LXDE, and Gnome variants. KDE looks great, and Plasma Netbook has a sensible workflow, but it is somewhat "heavy", and it's hard to find a theme which looks good both under Qt and GTK apps - you have to stay with oxygen-gtk, because QtCurve doesn't support GTK3. Xfce is fast, light, and works with Compiz, but I don't like its look. In my opinion, Cinnamon is good, it is customizable. The problem is its GNOME applications are becoming simpler and simpler... I wonder when GNOME go 100% touch-optimized, what will happen to Cinnamon... Maybe the devs will have to fork the entire GNOME
More choices are better, I think. It's the beauty of freedom.