I’ve changed DE multiple times, most of them are fine. KDE is a bit obtuse but it’s ultimately what I settled on because I want good built-in themes. If KDE didn’t exist I’d go with Xfce, followed by LXQt (never tried LXQt though).

In terms of how important a DE is, I think picking the right distro is more important. This basically means staying away from anything Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based because in my experience those are the least stable.

Super important. I do also choose a DE first and look for a distro that supports it out of the box second.

This being said, while I think Gnome looks amazing, it’s whole UX is killing me. I tried it over and over again, because it looks so beautyful. But it always starts to frustrate and annoy me.

I was ling term Cinnamon user and recently switched to KDE Plasma. Luckily, as Linux users we have a choice.

I have seen people already say similar, but felt like chiming in.

The underlying djstro chosen matters less than the desktop environment or lack thereof. Well, sure you want to pick a district that aligns with your ideals and philosophies. However, as a lot of windows users delve into using Linux they see the distro as what decides the look (and feel) of their new OS.

While many learn about different DEs through different distros, I do think that the DE matters more for workflow for average users.

That being said, I jumped from windows to Arch. I didn’t want to be behind on updates. I also am a tinkerer by nature. And I am in the IT industry, have been for more than a decade. So Arch felt right ti me. So I have tried many DE and always go back to KDE. I want war over any being “better.” That’s a personal choice sincerely.

Hyprland was fun to tinker with, and it can be pretty. But I dont care about ricing as much as many of the stereotypical Arch users.

Very important. I spend a lot of time at my computer and my desktop environment is like my home. I want it to look in a way that I find aesthetically pleasing and it mustn’t try to force me to change the way I work because some UX designer decided that their way was much better than everybody else’s. Perhaps you can guess where this is going :D but I’ve tried to like Gnome 3 since it was first announced. I’ve given it multiple chances but it just doesn’t work for me. It feels like they’re going down the same road as all “modern” UIs, where only the most basic features are visible and everything else is either dumped into the “advanced” category or removed entirely. On the other hand, I have a coworker who only uses his PC like a tool, and he thinks Gnome is the best DE ever and can’t understand why anyone would want something else.

Currently I use KDE and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s highly configurable, and I’ve made it look and feel the way I want. I used mainly Xfce for a long time but now I prefer KDE.

Gnome is where the heart is for me! It’s just so customizable, the extension framework is such a cool concept. And yes, I know, KDE has a lot of bells and whistles, and I think think that’s why I dislike it. It’s cluttered, Gnome is simple. I like the polish and the smoothness, KDE is nice for people who want more but I’m happy with less. Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

When going over to Linux from Windows full time I landed on Gnome. Despite KDE being superficially like Windows, Gnome keyboard shortcuts are closer to what I’m used to, the defaults feel more sane to me, and the DE gets out of my way faster when in the terminal. I really want to like KDE but it hasn’t clicked for me.

One of the early irritants was way back in the KDE v1 days- the injection of the letter ’K’ in the app names - it harkens back to frat house level shenanigans (at least in the college I attended, except they liked the letter ’Q’). It hasn’t felt right with me.

Dash to panel and a couple of other extensions fixes the main gripes I have with Gnome DE. After testing Cosmic recently I am pretty close to that with my current configuration, and will likely try a transition that DE once it stabilizes.

I can technically manage in any DE generally - heck, I ran CDE on Digital OpenVMS back in the day and it did the job then. It a tool. The terminal is still where things happen for me.

Edits: reformatting the wall of text, added nuance.

Distro is more an alignment of philosophy between you and the distro. Something slowly updated but really stable? Debian. Something cutting edge, but with lots of guides? Arch, etc. etc.

Any of them can pretty much run any shell, DE or WM, and as that’s what you spend the most of the time interacting with, that’s a more personal touch point. The distro is really just the package manager that you regularly interact with, and thats easy enough to hide behind something like topgrade.

I have only used Sway for a few years and anything else feels bloated and slow to use to me now. I spent a long time tweaking to get it how I wanted both in terms of add ons and config, then setting the keyboard shortcuts that work for me. I even have a bunch of them configured on my actual keyboard on layers to make them even easier to activate.

Its worth the investment for me as its now transparent to my workflow. I run the same config across all my machines and its been a stable config for the longest time. Long term stability is the key for me.

I’ve been using Linux for considerably longer, and I started off with things like BB4Win (meant to mimic the Blackbox window manager but on Windows) before I switched, so I was constantly trying different UI experiences and seeking out more customization options even before moving to Linux. Part of the Winamp, “skin all the things,” generation. Switching DEs is a non-issue these days but I have my preferences. I loved old Gnome 2 so I found Cinnamon nice enough. xfce too. I don’t dislike current Gnome but I’ve settled in to KDE these day. I lived in Xmonad for a while so I’ll also happily take any TWM that preferably isn’t it’s own hobby project to configure and maintain.

I’ve used several iterations of Gnome, several iterations of KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, Hyprland, XFCE, LXDE, Fluxbox, and several other things I can’t be bothered to remember. I can be productive on any of them given some time to set them up.

I do have preferences though, and I like KDE on a laptop/desktop and Gnome on a tablet. I just wish Gnome would do something about its horrid onscreen keyboard.

The importance of choosing the right DE is quite low for me because, with daily use, I can get accustomed to any new environment. It’s uncomfortable at first, but it can be done and, eventually, it grows on me.

In my case, I’m used to window managers because they improve my current workflow; however, the most intuitive DE for me is GNOME. I love its gestures, aesthetics, and functionality.

Interface matters a ton, of course. But once you switch between a few it gets easier, even if you retain your preferences.

I used to feel the same. At some point I put some time into setting up KDE how I wanted it and then I just kinda kept using it. Still use it today. I do find the editing tools of the toolbars etc to be extremely chaotic. But once that’s in place it’s actually nicer than Gnome imo

I currently use KDE Plasma, Cinnamon and LXQt on three different computers. On most DEs I can manage myself just well. I never liked GNOME post 2. I have recently used MATE, LXDE and Xfce

Something like 4 out of 10 important for me, but 10 out of 10 if I share a computer. I keep xfce4 on my computers because I like some of the utilities that come with it by default and I’m not the only person in my home who logs in. The default setup is close to what my people expect and it can be modified easily enough.

That being typed, I use a window manager after spending years adding custom shortcuts to an increasingly modified xfce setup to match my day-to-day use patterns. I got tired of dealing with stacking windows and wanted to try a setup that tiles the windows instead. It made sense at that time to try out a window manager that came closer to what I was looking for. I still use xfce4 if I want to run an x-11 type of environment for some reason, but I’m using sway for my personal day-to-day environment. I’m willing to use KDE or GNOME if that’s what is installed by default, but I’m working against muscle memory when I do so.

After 2y on Linux I can say with full confidence that switching from GNOME to KDE (for me) is a bigger barrier than switching from Windows to Linux ever was.

Huh?

How’s that a bigger barrier?

You install it, you select it from your login(“display”) manager on next login, et viola, you’re using it… and you still have access to all your prior installed programs too. No backup required, no complete operating system install, no great leap of learning an entirely different operating system paradigm, no reading new software licenses… it’s just install it, and log in to it.

How important is a DE to you?

None at all.

Xmonad’s been my fave since around 2007-2008ish.

Tried dozens of other window managers. [Special honourable mention to herbstluftwm.]

Tried over half the desktop environments too.

Much more nice without unnecessary clutter and resource wastage and faff of a desktop environment, and just a window manager.

And, as for trying new DE/WM, and needing to log out and back in to try them… even that hurdle can be eliminated. ;) There be ways to switch them without losing everything you’re currently running. https://codeberg.org/Digit/wminizer