ExtremeTech: Red Hat’s Heresy

“Windows still rules primarily because there really is no
‘standard’ Linux desktop. This lack of consistency and
simplification sometimes confuses the hell out of Linux newbies. To
them the desktop is the OS and why should there be more than one
GUI? This mindset has become a formidable challenge to Linux folks
who relish the ability to customize their OS and who regard
standardization as conformity.

“Most Linux people have rallied behind either the KDE or Gnome
GUI, but Windows users coming over to Linux usually have no idea
what these things are. And, even if they get around to installing
Linux, newbies still have to contend with an overwhelming array of
menus–the standard KDE or Gnome menus plus all the ones created by
the distro.

“Red Hat, to its credit and to the utter annoyance of some Linux
purists, has engaged in a bold experiment: to produce a simple and
easy to use desktop. It has tweaked the default KDE and Gnome GUIs
so that they work almost exactly alike, by creating a more Red
Hat-centric desktop with simplified menus and attractive
graphics…”

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