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Comment by karatchov | Hacker News Reader

I've tried using linux desktop for daily use multiple times. Xfce was usually my choice for its simplicity and snappiness.

But, there was this 1 simple thing that made me lose faith in the linux desktop:

For xfce's default folder viewer: Thunar, there was no possibility to adjust a per-folder view settings. At first I did not beleive it, but there were multiple discussion complaining about the same issue, including a 12-years old bug report(https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3521 )

For a desktop manager endorsed by major distrubitions, I find this to be mind blowing and enraging.

It gave me the feeling that linux desktop is an un-finisehd, unpolished, hacky piece of software

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So you used a somewhat obscure window manager, found a missing feature in the folder viewer you were using and jumped to the conclusion that Linux has a broken desktop experience?

Isn't that always what Linux people say? No matter what is broken, there are hundreds of other applications that aren't broken in that specific way, so there's nothing wrong with the Linux desktop.

If he was complaining about gnome I'd hand it to him. But he installed niche software and complained it doesn't support mainstream features.

I used the default window manager that comes with xfce.

I tried setting up other window managers in xfce, and come to the conclusion it is not straightfoward, and the integration with the rest of the system is not perfect.

Also it was a feeling of imperfection that pushed me back (I am sure you can setup the linux desktop for your liking if you tried enough)

I would not recommend Xfce to a newcomer, though I know some people who started using Linux with it and kept it.

I think I would recommend Cinnamon (I don't like it personally but people seem to like it) or Unity (especially since they came back to Gnome. This desktop looks nice and easy to use).

I like Plasma 5, I find it's the best general purpose desktop environment across all the major OSes, but somehow non-technical people don't seem to like it so much.

All these observations are anecdotal and should be taken with a grain of salt. I didn't conduct a study and the number of people is low.

There is a ongoing effort in the KDE community to improve usability and usability and they are doing a great job. I recommend reading https://pointieststick.com/

I tried multiple desktop managers. Everyone had its own perks.

Coming from windows, xfce felt the most natural for me.

I also considered implementing the feature, but it was out of my skill set(probably doable with enough effort and time).

You started with unconventional software, though. Why didn't you try to use gnome? It's far more broadly used and supported. It's not perfect, but the criticism you have against it would make more sense in terms of ditching Linux in your desktop computer.

I actually tested gnome and didnt like it.(I cant recall the exact reasons) I also spent considerable time with other DMs (kde5, lxde and unity), and ended up liking xfce

I think its a shame that the linux desktop software is so fragmented.

Sometime, I fantasize about a parallel world, with a parallel linux trovalds working solely and maintaining THE linux desktop manager

I don't think the fragmentation is really a problem. It's not like if there was a single option, then everyone who's currently involved in working with other desktop environments would automatically join in.

That said, gnome has the largest chunk of the market share. Sort of like the chrome of Linux desktop. It has all features I've ever used in any desktop environment (to be fair, after Windows 98 I only used Linux and Mac os) But each person will enjoy a different UI, I guess.

But it is not a bug. It is a feature you miss.

There are actually many areas in linux desktop that are hacky and unfinished, but this is not one of them. It would be helpful to have that feature, yes, but I never missed it, mostly because of shortcuts in thunar

strg + 1 normal thumbnail view

strg + 2 detailed list.

Sure !

I see it as very basic feature for a modern desktop/window manager.

Yes, you do. But apparently the majority of thunar users does not ... so it does not make the whole linux desktop useless.

Never said it was useless, it was a feeling of using an unpolished product.

But that is a matter of perspective. I felt enraged and could not believe that you cannot change the windows 10 file explorer to a dark theme. Maybe you can now, they advertised this amazing feature as soon to come, but I don't know as I do not have to use that anymore.

So I prefer thunar over windows file manager, or worse, the filemanager on my chromebook any day. So it is very polished software for my use case, even though not perfect.

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