Once I found i3/sway, my dreams came true. So much power and anything less feels useless and ugly.

I get it that it takes some knowledge and tinkering and therefore is not for everyone, but now I would get crazy as well, if somebody takes them off.

Same here, I now even use FancyWM on any windows machine I need to work on to try and replicate part of the experience. I can't image anything else besides running Linux as my base hosts. The flexibility, power, and clarity of underlying systems compared to something like windows is what I never want to lose

i3 was pretty instant for me and made me go from casually using Linux at home to making Ubuntu 20 LTS a stable daily driver at work. I think I needed one tutorial to get my config and status bar then I was good to go. It took a little while longer to settle on a Tmux config but starting from scratch I very quickly got the most efficient workflow I have ever had.

I get the sense that the majority of people are using their computers in a far different way than I am. For me, my computer is a terminal first (I don’t even start X11 on startup!) and behaves as a text editor, web browser, and a way to execute my software development tasks. Perhaps it’s not the glorious graphic experience most people want, but it is what I want.

In the meantime the lackluster Linux graphics department makes it that I pretty much locked into Windows. While it is getting better, I still miss capable editors like Affinity Photo and Designer, Publisher.

Video and 3D got some good software now, but it remains that for me, Linux should push for graphics development far more.

My main problem with switching to Linux is that most apps just can't make use of GPU acceleration or HW decoding. This includes browser HW video decoding, HW acceleration in video editors.

There are some CLI hacks you can do to try to fix this but my time is precious and I can't afford to play sysadmin at home.

Meanwhile all HW acceleration use cases have worked flawlessly out of the box on windows every single time, which is why I can't recommend people switch to Linux.

What will they think when they try to watch YouTube or Netflix and the laptop fans ramp up and the battery drains instantly because HW video decode in browser doesn't work out of the box?

> the lackluster Linux graphics department

I have to say that I hate statements like this that manage to project a reversal of responsibilities onto the linux ecosystem. The "lack" is with the vendors of the applications you use, not with linux.

This might be correct for you, but incorrect for most of the people. Linux desktop experience may suck even if it does not suck for you particularly.

Well it's true for me too. The first thing I do when I get a new laptop is try out windows (it's pre-installed) and of course I want to like it but it just doesn't compare to GNOME3... I always end up going back to Linux. And I have used both extensively and adapted to both work-flows and I'd say GNOME3 is superior once you adapt to it.

No you don't need a minimize or maximize button, they are actually useless in the GNOME work-flow, and unnecessary on windows too.

Could you explain the Gnome workflow and how it doesn't necessitate the use of minimizing and maximizing Windows?

Not parent, but I personally put relevant (few) windows on the same desktop and switch between them with a 3-finger swipe (which is faster/smoother than what OSX have, which is unbearably slow). On a given desktop I change a window by either swiping up with 3 fingers for a fast overview window, or just press Super. Compared to OSX, this view is not that overcrowded (due to easily having more desktops), so I can actually find what I’m looking for, and they also have icons (try having multiple browsers open in osx and finding the one you want). Super+~, which is the same as in OSX is also great for switching between multiple windows of the same program.

OSX can have multiple desktops too. in fact the way i arrange windows on gnome vs OSX is pretty much the same.

I know, but the desktops there doesn’t grow dynamically. That’s a huge difference (though I’m sure there is an extension/setting for that)

i keep most windows in fullscreen and use the expose function or how it's called that shows all windows in reduced size to switch. sometimes i put two or three windows side by side if i need to see them at the same time.

i also make use of multiple workspaces/desktops to arrange windows that are related to each other.

so i use the maximize function but never feel the need to minimize windows unless it's a window that i don't need to reopen ever.

From what I’ve seen of desktop environments that try to emulate gnome 3 (and what I vaguely remember of toying around ubuntu ~10 years ago), wasn’t gnome a bit of an attempt to look and feel like Windows?

I don’t see it. If anything, the new windows is a huge gnome copy.

linux on the desktop won't suck with open hardware 2d/3d acceleration. when will this happen? probably never.