• Unsafe@discuss.online
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    10 months ago

    Why do we invent new DEs instead of making proper settings app in already existing ones?

    • Michael Murphy (S76)@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 months ago

      Because that’s not how software development works, and that’s not how you make progress in the field. In order for our technical vision to be integrated with an existing desktop, such as GNOME, it would have required that they give us the reigns to their project to delete their entire codebase and rebuild it into exactly what you see today in COSMIC.

      As in life, sometimes you’ve got to demolish, pave, and build better foundations. There’s a lot of cool technologies available to build a truly next-generation desktop experience in, but you’re not going to get it through rigid bureaucracy and old tools. With COSMIC, we’ve got freedom to make decisions and build something truly unique, and we’re using our talent to show you what we can do.

      • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Well said. I’m nervous and excited to see what this turns in to. Pop is my daily driver and has been for years. I’m excited to see all this progress.

      • Unsafe@discuss.online
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        10 months ago

        If you will create “next gen” desktop, you will just solve some problems of already existing ones and create your own. Maturity of software is far more important, than uniqueness. GNOME didn’t evolve into its current state for no reason.

        • Michael Murphy (S76)@lemmy.worldOP
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          10 months ago

          Translation: no one should ever attempt to innovate on the Linux desktop. GNOME is the epitome of software development and everyone else should quietly give up. If GNOME can’t fix an issue, no one can. Only GNOME has the god-given right to make decisions on how desktops are developed for Linux. There can only be one party. The One Desktop principle. Contribute to your party leader, or else…

    • tiny@midwest.social
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      10 months ago

      Sometimes it’s easier to start over than unbreak an existing project. Gnome is old and big so it’s harder to change. So starting over where you don’t have to keep existing features or care about existing users is way easier than fixing gnome and rewriting it in rust. Plus system 76 can. There’s no single party that can stop them from making a desktop

    • Quazatron@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      We do what we must because we can.

      FOSS software development is very much like evolution. Many projects are born but only the best thrive. It is a wasteful system because resources are spread over similar projects, but it creates very good software.

      • Unsafe@discuss.online
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        10 months ago

        Not really. Best Foss projects do not always thrive. Git wasn’t really better than mercurial. But it had happened to be published earlier, so it got wider adoption.

        • Quazatron@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          It doesn’t have to be the best, it just has to be better than the current standard. Git was better than CVS and SVN, so it won.

    • yianiris@kafeneio.social
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      10 months ago

      Because some developers act on their own consciousness and don’t have a slavemaster corporate manager telling them what they need to do or not do.

      When one doesn’t like any of the available choices yet a new one is born. Can you measure how many v.terminals we have, or how many window managers on X11?

      @Unsafe @mmstick

      • Unsafe@discuss.online
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        10 months ago

        Fortunately such “new choices” get abandoned very quickly. Making new solution instead of improving existing ones is counterproductive. Unless there is a large legacy codebase. Smart people have invented Unix principles to avoid that.