[kostya-kow]

It is still possible to customize Ubuntu, but you cannot customize Unity itself. It is no longer the goal of canonical. Canonical is trying to make an OS for an average person, who doesn't care about customization. Power users (ie normal GNU/Linux users) are not their target audience.

[willismichael]

I went through a phase in which I wanted to be able to go to great lengths to customize the UI. Lately I've realized that in the end, virtually all of my "power user" use cases are served by the terminal and emacs. When it comes to the UI, I just want something with reasonable behavior, that allows me to launch apps, and generally stays out of the way. Now days when I set up a new linux machine it's mostly just a matter of doing the default install, using aptitude to get the same old utilities, languages, and apps that I always use, and copying over whatever I want to keep in ~/.bashrc and ~/.emacs

[chez17]

I think everyone goes through that phase. I use spend hours customizing my desktop. Finding the perfect image, icons, size of the task bar, setting up some crazy conky displays, etc... Now it's i3 with a plain black background.

[platz]

I'm using i3 as well and am loving it.

[SkyMarshal]

Same. Terminal + Tmux + Vim + launcher (Gnome-Do or Synapse) + Vim keybindings for everything (browser, anything else) = couldn't care less what desktop I'm running (minus privacy concerns like embedded Amazon searches).

[webreac]

I fully agree. I just want a desktop that stays out of the way. I have ubuntu and I have replaced unity by cinnamon. It is not very polished, but in a couple of minute, you can configure it to be usable.

[leephillips]

The desktop that does the best job of staying out of your way is no desktop. I've been using Ubuntu for years without a desktop, just the dwm window manager. Now and then I ask people, because I know the desktops are evolving, what they might have to offer me, but I never get a coherent response.

[dhimes]

I really like enlightenment, but the wifi connection manager in e17 baffles me. I've had it working, but it seems to want me to install something else- do I then take out network manager? etc etc.

Unity has a huge flaw, though: to find a program you have to know its name. That sounds silly to non-nixers, but for instance some are known as one thing but actually are named something quite different (e.g., 'Document Viewer' = 'Evince'). In cases where unity doesn't recognize both names this can be a problem.

I used to learn the command-line invocation by looking at the shortcut in the menu. No more in unity (at least I haven't learned how).

[progrock]

I would take a punt and suggest that the average punter couldn't describe what a desktop is. I'd struggle to define it. But think it includes: application launching, application management, window management, file management and a couple of helper applications: clipboard, network manager, notifications, workspaces and probably some input device management! It's no wonder why people give incoherent responses!

[yogo]

Same here. I usually use OpenBox then add a few commonly used programs to the menu. I often wish this was possible with Windows (might be with 3rd party software) but I understand that they have a different type of user in mind. There really isn't a need for a desktop though.

[kunai]

dwm is great, but I like twm slightly better due to its more conventional window management.

It's also extremely satisfying in a mischievous sort of way whenever I walk into some public place and pull out my T410 with that setup. I can't count the number of stares I get. One guy even asked me why I used a laptop from the 1990s.

[rumbler]

Heh. You should see the looks I get with my Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 (running Arch Linux and i3wm). People must think I'm entering nuclear launch codes every time I use vim in public on the thing...

[leephillips]

I also use the Thinkpads - great with Linux, and I love the way the keyboard feels. I haven't noticed the stares, though.