As I recall, the UI designers didn't even ask for feedback. It was a case of "we know what you want better than you do". That design approach is basically always a mistake.
Well, yes, but if most people who is going to give feedback are tech-inclined Linux people and your aim is to build something which can be used by anyone at the end?
Your initial design might land somewhere very wrong, but starting to ask for feedback from that point on will lead you better since it's wrong for everyone, no?
The word for the audience that GNOME developers are targeting is "lowest common denominator".
It's the same problem with all excessively friendly interfaces, great if you are a day one user (pretty rare on Linux), obstructive and shitty if you know what you're doing.
I know what I'm doing and I have no idea how people can deal with gnome on a day to day basis. I can survive only with plugins and those break very often,sadly.
Unfortunately I'm too lazy to switch to KDE (way too much stuff is broken if you install it not from the start and I don't want to reinstall), so I stick to gnome on my work computer.
I really, really appreciated KDE customization and power user options (hidden but there). It is messy and the UI is worse at times, but it's way ahead.
Me too. That being said, I no longer use it on any of my devices. I heartily disagree with their development roadmap and feel somewhat lost as a former GTK tinkerer.
Well, this is a very strong and wrong assumption. There are ordinary people who are using Linux because of various reasons (my dad being one of them), and we want more people to use Linux, too.
If we continue to cater to only technically inclined people, we have no right to criticize Linux for being for the knowledgeable people only. If we want to attract more users from a more diverse community, we need to make some changes to user experience.
There is no buts or ifs. There are plenty of desktop environments. Technically inclined people can tinker with gconf, or install something different (KDE, E17, or any of the TWMs).
Sure, but you don't ignore your core audience to attract other users.
Valve built the Steam Deck knowing very well that their core users will be PC gamers and not console gamers. The steam deck is made as open as a pc, with functionality to jump back-and-forth between that and a pc (dynamic cloud sync).
Console gamers will come, but you don't ignore the people that are at the core of your business.
What do you mean as you recall? Did you follow the project updates on their issue and bug tracker? If you're not happy with it you know you can fork it and create your own derivative, right? Oh, so you just like to complain about how people spend their free time and want them to work for you for free?
