Interesting, KDE used to have a reputation of being a tad heavier than the alternatives, years ago.
I liked 7 very much as well. There are some useful aspects of 10, but 7 felt consistent, and graphically it was comfortable, indeed.

I wonder if finally Microsoft will pull the trigger and buy Canonical. It grabs enough ideas from mainstream Linux desktop distro's, now even the icon theme.

My take on the future Microsoft Linux distro name: WinduX -> The same Windows experience, now with enhanced Kernel and open source calculator.

Meanwhile, at Gnome's headquarters: "lmao".

Who knows, did not Steve Jobs move to a Unix-based system to make things work?

True, shame 7 is no longer supported. The campaign for 8 and then 10 was strong and somehow they managed to pull it off, bringing many users to the latest version of the OS. I don't like this direction at all. And although I have been a long time Windows user, I'm ready for a change of scenery.

Doesn't seem that far-fetched. Plus, isn't Canonical like the Microsoft of the Linux world? Lol, the negativity they got for Unity, Amazon integration and many other stunts along the years.
Surely you meant to say the same convoluted Windows experience, now with enhanced telemetry. :-D

I guess they're having a great time, especially now.

The big problem is that 90% of people playing games, are playing those 10% that won't run so nice on Linux.

Well, on the subject, recently tried one Adobe Air game that had major problems on Steam's Proton previously and was very smooth... HURRAAAYYYYY :D

Yeah I mainly went on how it goes on Linux Mint, where XFCE is touted as the most lightweight option of the three main versions that is offered (Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE).

Of those three, XFCE does everything I want so I don't see any real reason why I'd want to use a more complicated and flashier GUI, even if I do have 16GB RAM. I think I tried both Cinnamon and MATE in the past briefly and didn't see what the big deal was. The only drawback of Linux Mint XFCE is that when a new Mint release comes out, the XFCE version seems to come out a bit later than the other two, so little more waiting there.

Overall, I really like how the user can select and adapt different Linux distros based on how light or "heavy" one wants it to be. Naturally one could even go without a GUI if it is a server etc., but in desktop use a GUI is pretty much a must (for web browsing etc.).

For instance, I recently gave an ancient Dell Latitute D610 laptop a new life:
- 1-core 32bit Pentium M CPU
- 1 GB of RAM
- a broken 2.5" PATA HDD (so I can't replace it easily as there naturally it is harder to find at least new PATA HDDs nowadays...)

My colleague just needed some simple computer to act as a local FTP server and to be able to run some tests from it (ping etc.), when updating firmwares for routers at our work. He can't use his own work laptop for it because for some reason his tests need a real network card/eth-port, while he has only an USB-Eth adapter which doesn't work for those tests for some reason (The D610 has an eth port, naturally).

Not sure if he needs a GUI at all or not, but I googled for the most lightweight (32bit, as the system has only a 32bit CPU mind you) Linux distros, and ended up with Q4OS (Q4OS Centaurus, Trinity 32bit):

https://q4os.org/

Also, since the laptop has no HDD, I just connected a 8GB USB flash drive to it and it can act as its mass media "hard drive". So I installed Q4OS to that machine (the Q4OS runs from the USB flash drive), installed and set up the vsftp server on it, and it runs surprisingly well. I even switched off the swap file/partition because I didn't want to cause extra writing to that USB flash drive and wanted to maximize the available "HDD" space on it, and 1GB RAM still seemed plenty (well, I didn't try to go to https://www.gog.com with its web browser, though...).

The laptop is like 16 years old. Can modern Windows, which still receives security fixes, be installed on such an old low spec computer and expected to run ok on it, even from an external USB flash drive? I bet it wouldn't even have suitable drivers. Mind you, many Linux distos have stopped or will stop offering 32bit releases, but Q4Os (based on Debian apparently) still does, and apparently still offers security fixes too for several years.

The funny thing is that the GUI in Q4OS seems to try to resemble Windows (like Windows XP or 7). It seems to have Control Panel etc., first I wondered if it is Linux at all LOL.

Virtualization ought to run most programs, right?, but for those that are on the blooding edge squeezing what the hardware market offers, with an eye put on what will be available a little bit later, even.

Also, not wanting to stir things, but working with remote computers can be a sort of great equalizer about running software in a variety of OS and even devices. Both for professional applications and games. Personally I prefer to run things locally, but there are use cases and, as long as access to internet keeps improving, this trend will not disappear, so we better figure out how to deal with it best, in ways that guarantee support to software that runs locally. Internet changed the way people accessed software, including games, and each time service has improved, it has changed the paradigm for games: first with BBS, shareware, patch sizes and frequency, online validation, online distribution, day 1 patches, multiple fragmented expansions ending up being labelled DLC, day XXX patches (meaning games sorely needing patching, delivered way later than day 1)... The panorama will keep changing. The careful shopper of software might have the chance of molding what happens, maybe, at least to a degree, at least creating niches, but... to Cuivienen there is no returning.

... lots and lots of new bugs. ;-)

Yeah, it seems Gnome 40 has been overall well-received. And although it still needs polish and updated extensions, in my opinion it stands miles ahead of W10's desktop experience. I would also dare to say that Gnome provides a more pleasant look than Big Sur and its tactile visual design for non-tactile interfaces. Which is a weird thing to say, especially since many gnome users seem to like the 'Big Sur' theme a lot, add to that the recent popularity of Garuda Linux and we have irrefutable proof of the ubiquitous abuse of psychedelics amongst Linux users.

Haha, thanks for making me laugh.
Garuda certainly is flashy, but also way too heavy of a distro out of the box and in the early stages.
I'll admit it, I like KDE to an extent, mainly when it comes to customization.
As for Gnome, I will give Fedora 34 a try later this month.

Please, lets not thread that line any further! i provide some maintenance for a relative using a 2013 released i3.... Lets say, that in 2013 the machine was actually a nice surprise.

The thread is about Windows and people are already talking about Linux :P

Maybe a blue will drop by to remind us to stay on topic :-D