there is simply too much extra crap launched from systemd (I don't have a problem with systemd, just all the extra ubuntu-specific stuff they've added as new daemons) and too many kinda-ubuntu-proprietary things shipped in xubuntu now.
I'm going to try 22.04 before deciding, but I'm eyeing Manjaro or Endeavor OS in case I jump ship. I'm also eyeing Qubes OS, but it looks needy and resource heavy.
They are good for server installations as well, except Docker/containers are almost always a better solution. Although the auto updating features make it a good solution for potentially creating self hosted services.
They’re just a terrible fit for the desktop. Unsurprising because they were never designed for the desktop.
Why have you chosen OpenSUSE and how has your experience been? I've been eyeing Debian, as it's pretty similar and I already have it on a server. My main concern with switching to a completely different distro would be that the packages are sometimes named differently.
Or I could switch to NixOS if I wanted things to be actually better, but the idea that I'd have to spend time nurturing my system just doesn't sound that appealing in 2022.
As for the experience, I mostly like it. There is some re-learning to do (zypper not apt!), but the vast majority of things are the same. Since the distro isn't as popular, there are fewer asked-and-answered questions out there, but most Ubuntu answers work with minimal adaptation and the OpenSUSE wiki is pretty good.
Another downside of going non-Debian is that proprietary software may be less well-supported. I think I only have Steam and Spotify, and they have worked well so far.
Ubuntu’s aggressive approach with snaps would have been bad enough if snaps were the perfect desktop app solution. It’s a lot more frustrating considering snaps are probably the 3rd best new packaging option behind Flatpak sand appimage.
There's also instructions for converting a running system, but I've had no luck with that. It just resulted in an unbootable system for me as it couldn't fully remove systemd there.