> which is a shame, since they iirc slaughtered the perfectly good GNOME 2.x UI to cater to those devices speifically around a decade ago - and for what? If this is all that's there to reap, it's been a bad trade-off.

It was the fad of that time, when Microsoft also introduced Windows 8 and the "Modern UI" Metro.

But at least they came to their senses, also because no devs bothered to adopt it :) and they still didn't manage to sell any Windows tablets.

> they still didn't manage to sell any Windows tablets.

That was such a branding problem for Microsoft. Microsoft supplied so many Surface tablets to the NFL and the commentators kept calling them iPads.

they did to schools, i was cursed with an 8.1 acer windows tablet until they finally allowed a BYO program

I like to keep the Windows install around on small partition as I find at least on Thinkpads the Vantage app on Windows often has firmware and bios updates more available/earlier than on linux but ymmv. Plus is there for random need for windows-only app but maybe not as important.

> they iirc slaughtered the perfectly good GNOME 2.x UI to cater to those devices specifically around a decade ago - and for what?

There was a recent article on here that explained GNOME 2.x was windows-like enough that there was fear Microsoft would come after Linux distributions with patent lawsuits, hence the departure from that style of UI in the next version. KDE on the other hand was made with a patent sharing agreement in place.

Ah that explains a lot. Especially the feel I've always had about it being "change for the sake of change". There was a time when I actually tried to use it for real, I bought a used Surface Pro 3 and traveled with it, so the touch-based UI actually made sense. I wonder if that fear was realistic though. Though I have to admit MS at that time (under Ballmer) was really hostile to Linux.

Edit: The point made in that article seems to be disproven though: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39493246 . Even Miguel de Icaza said it's nonsense. Can't get more authoritative on Gnome than that.

But it was just too weird with the workspaces on the fly, the huge window decorations (despite touch I would mainly use the pen anyway) and the lack of a real launcher. I used it for about 3 months and got rid of it. It just rubbed me the wrong way constantly and I really couldn't stand the designers' attitude, every time I wanted to change something I ended up googling it and finding some excuse from the devs on why they wouldn't account for it (usually along the lines of "you shouldn't want/need that").

What didn't help was that Linux on the Surface Pro 3 was a huge PITA also. Often the keyboard wouldn't work after having been disconnected, or the pen would stop working, or it would turn on in my bag for some weird reason and be boiling hot, or it would fail to pick up the ethernet of the dock etc. Most of these issues were solved by a reboot but I ended up rebooting a lot to solve all these stupid random problems and I really got sick of that.

But the "Weirdness" of Gnome 3 didn't help. I have a lot of opinions on how stuff must work and tried modifying gnome with plugins to make it work that way, and that led to a lot of issues when updates came out and the plugins weren't updated. Opinionated software just isn't for me. I want options. Lots and lots of options :)

Eventually I moved back to a desktop and gave KDE another try (the last time was in the KDE 4 period and I didn't like it) and it felt like a breath of fresh air. Everything I wanted to change about the default UI had an option in there somewhere to do it. It felt like the developers were reading my mind and pre-empted every wish :3 I've always cherished software packages like that.

And it only kept getting better and better with things like accent colours in the anniversary update. I use a lot of my own theming as well for both my DE and web apps and KDE is really great for that. I was actually planning to make a real theme myself but it's so configurable now that I can really make it pretty much like I want with just some configuration clicks.

I donate monthly to KDE now just because I want them to continue this great work and philosophy.

Well, I appreciate your efforts to set the record straight --I was just parroting what I had read there, which is a bit lazy.