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Comment by _a_a_a_ | Hacker News Reader

I have to use windows for work but hate MS and want to move to linux at home at least. I did some f/oss work that needed unix, installed Ubuntu on a spare box, picked gnome - and it was horrible. Big, clunky, so much weird user-hostile behaviour, superficially slick visually but not good for workflow, and bugs... Windows has a lot of polish (which they are destroying) but I can't consider gnome again.

Are there any alternatives anyone knows of that are user friendly, reliable, don't keep hiding options...?

I'd really like to move off windows but so far it doesn't feel like I can.

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Have you looked at KDE Plasma? I personally don’t like it because it looks and acts too much like Windows but it’s probably what you’re looking for.

I use Gnome myself because I like the hot corners, and I like it well enough but I’m currently trying to figure out AwesomeWM. I did borrow some of the shortcut ideas from it for gnome like windows key + enter for a console.

To be clear, it's not about how it looks or acts - I flip between emacs and visual studio and they are utterly different for example - I need an interface that

a) isn't buggy and

b) is designed by people who understand a GUI isn't an end in itself but a means for someone to get their work done.

I need both and gnome... wasn't it.

XFCE ist really nice. It comes with different presets and can be made to cater to ones preferences rather easily.

It is the default of xubuntu, which imho is a good first desktop linux, mostly because of the extensive documentation and tutorials for it.

There is also Linux Mint XFCE. I prefer this because *ubuntu isn't focused on the desktop any more and Mint is. Also, Snaps are annoying and he repo is controlled by Canonical. Mint doesn't have Snaps unless you want them.

I've always been happy with KDE. KDE/Wayland still has a few rather unfortunately bugs, so if you go that way it's better to stick with X for now.

KDE is your friend. Customisable to the last bit.

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