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Comment by Panzerschrek | Hacker News Reader

No, thanks, I require no modernization. I just need stable, but customizable UI, so that I can customize it once and use it my entire life without needing to adopt to new stuff constantly.

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I also need an easy backup strategy for it. I want a single file blob somewhere I can throw in Syncthing l, and have it get backed up to the cloud.

configuration.nix is that file for me. I gave up entirely on desktops and panels, and instead use xmonad and dmenu. I've had to adapt to exactly zero change in my ux in ten years. For me, enrichment comes from studying and experimenting, not from adapting every month or two to things that make somebody else feel good about changing.

> stable, but customizable UI,

Which you can't get without modernization because pre-modern solutions don't offer that. But also, what do you do throughout your "entire life" if you want to customize something to do what's not implemented? That's also modernization.

Effectively all you're asking for is a simple opt in so you can change at your own pace

> Which you can't get without modernization

What kind of "modernisation" do you think is necessary for that? XFCE like 12 years ago was already pretty customizable and it remains customizable. Themes, colors, button layouts, some behavior and effects can be changed. XFCE panel allows full customization - I can choose its position, start button logo and text, shortcuts and other elements. It's as flexible as it can be.

XFCE is GTK-based, which is infamous for breaking plugins on some version updates! That includes your panels with "full customization". So you don't have stability, that would require modernization of development practices.

> It's as flexible as it can be

Is it as flexible as allowing users to enable users the OS-wide app interaction ideas described in the blog/video presentation?

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