> the Linux desktop and the ambition level hasn't really changed much in 25 years
I find that totally wrong. Look at niri - I can imagine MS and Apple will introduce scrollable wm features in the coming years.
I find that totally wrong. Look at niri - I can imagine MS and Apple will introduce scrollable wm features in the coming years.
Most people agree that a screen should feel like a physical desk where windows can pile, overlap, and scatter naturally. Would you use a tiling "system" for your physical desk? I highly doubt it.
Niri's infinite scrolling approach makes that into a rigid filmstrip sequence. It might be interesting for some people though.
Where they could improve is hotkeys: they are all heavily reliant on them, which is unreasonably hostile to non tech users.
Humans aren't very good at identifying what they need from tech. The earliest example is the spreadsheet: no average user would have asked for it because there was no skeomorphism to draw from. We would have had graph paper with a single char per cell if we went with skeomorphic.
Cascading window managers are objectively terrible. Obviously we don't force better solutions onto people, but they have very few redeeming qualities.
A tiling wm, or scrolling such as niri, solves this very well It’s of course designed for people actually using a computer for work rather than leisure.
Once you are used to it it’s hard to move back to windows being scattered all over.
In this setup theres the assumption that theres only ever two things Im looking at, and they are equally important because each one is 50/50.
Even if two can be configured to 3, and the 50/50 ratio can be changed, thats not the point, the desktop arrangement is a reflection of the task I am working on, not a rigid pattern enforced by a window manager.
I find these types of wms very bizarre. They must fit some people's mental model but its so far from being useful for me, I just find it fascinating that anyone could find this useful.