What linux desktop environment to use?

Mouse-driven window managers are like walking. Tiling window managers are like learning how to drive. In a stick shift. It'll suck for a bit, the engine will stall every now and then, perhaps you'll break a few teeth on the dashboard from failed shifts, but it'll still be a lot faster than walking.

But then, one fateful day, you log into that tiling window manager.

And on that day you will fail to notice that switching from your browser to your mailprogram and back didn't take any thought or mouse movement. You'll fail to realize how fast you're switching from your text editor to your browser. Without realizing it you've graduated from stick-shift to automatic transmission. No more breaking teeth on the dash.

Until you switch back to a normal window manager that is.

The whole keyboard-driven tiling thing will, at that glorious moment, just click. You'll notice this because – the whole mouse thing? It'll be annoying as hell.

That's not to say that you've suddenly converted to a "keyboard-drive and tile all the things" fanatic, but you start noticing the inefficiency of lifting your hand from the keyboard to grab your mouse for something, then pointing and clicking, and moving it back to the keyboard again.

"This sucks". – the little voice in the back of your head begins gnawing on your patience and that's how you know the seed has been planted.

And you switch back again to the tiling WM.

"Much better." The voice in the back of your head lets out an almost audible sigh of relief.

"But I wonder if I can't just use Windows/Meta-key M for starting my mail program, or switching to it once it's open.

AND BAM! You're driving top-down in an automatic-transmission lamborghini convertable. Welcome to linux customization, baby!

Welcome to real way you're supposed to use the linux desktop. Enjoy the show!

I was going to use all the other arguments about how you can customize every linux distro to look like windows or apple – because you actually can – but f*ck it.

This is the strength that none of the blocked-flag waving hippies or fruit-logo toting loons have; full customization and keyboard-driven everything. The fastest way of interacting with a computer barring a neuralink computer-brain interface.

Want to try this amazing way of working? I recommend setting up a virtual machine in something like virtualbox and giving Regolith linux a try.

Disclaimer; I have, and occasionally use, a macbook pro and a windows laptop as well. The device-handoff/sync thing apple has going is actually quite amazing. I just get really fired up when talking about tiling window manager and keyboard-controlling things.