On Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 01:22:17AM -0500, Steve Litt wrote:
> KDE sucks for the same reasons as systemd: It's a massively entangled
> monolith. But as far as I know, KDE runs (as well as KDE can run at
> all) on any Linux distro or init system. You will need to have dbus
> (ewwww) working.

If a person is used to KDE, I'm fine with that.
After all, they still have a choice over the
apps they use, and don't necessarily have to stick
with KDE branded ones. If you're the helper,
you can help them make an informed choice.

Choice of desktop environments is a matter of preference, as
are editors and languages. I'm happy that with just a window
manager, i3 in tiling mode. I'm able to launch and use
regular multiplanel programs like gimp or inkscape without
impediment.

Every so often I'll get a reminder why I dislike the
desktop metaphor, such as trying to move a bunch of
files on the Mac, holding down the wrong ctrl-shift-alt
combination and move or delete the whole group
instead of copying it. Or you move things to an
unintended folder, scattering them among other
files. All because you can't name what
you want. Like a preverbal child, you only know
how to point.

The desktop lets you replace naming things with
pointing at them.

Sometimes it works out very well, such as choosing few
files out of many.
The desktop is great in that it's a simple representation
that is visible and clickable. You don't need
more than a mouse.

I saw a friend had hundreds of icons clustered
in groups. He wanted everything in easy reach.
He didn't need to create folders. (Of course, woe if he
somehow rearranges his icons!)

To launch a program With i3, its Ctrl-d followed by a few
letters of a program name. You don't need to search or point.
No desktop icons to arrange.

The terminal is an economical system to incant commands and to address
objects by name. That is more literacy than knowing how to use Excel, IMO.
I think we could teach it better. It is a kind of literacy.

^*^*^ Merry Computing and a Happy Annual Rollover ^*^*^*^


--
Joel Roth