Xfdesktop 4.10.3 Released While Xfce 4.12 Remains M.I.A.

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Xfdesktop 4.10.3 Released While Xfce 4.12 Remains M.I.A.

Xfce 4.12 remains out of sight but Xfdesktop 4.10.3 was released today...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTg0MTU

[emblemparade]

Annoying commentary, Michael. Do you have any hard data showing that Xfce users are abandonding it? And if so, that they are doing so because of "stagnant development"?

And even the "stagnant development" statement is wrong. There are frequent commits on git. You're usuallly good at following up on commit frequency, why were you lazy about it this time? I would agree only that it's "stagnant" in terms of product releases. But that does not equal development.

I can speak only for myself: I choose Xfce exactly because it's "stagnant" -- it does the job well enough using paradigms that are burnt into my brain, and doesn't try to keep innovating every few months, breaking these hard-earned habits.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the innovation in Unity and GNOME 3. We need to keep pushing the envelope. But, those experimentations have so far resulted in more frustration for me personally than an improved everyday experience. I do watch them closely and try them out, and I'm pretty confident that one day they will hit a sweet spot. Until then, Xfce.

There are some things that do need to get updated in Xfce, but they are in the pipeline and are being developed (see above). I guess some of us are more patient than others.

[TheOne]

Xfce just works, I dont see what is the issue with the no newer features added. What they should do is port it to gtk3 in order to gain Wayland and Mir support...

[teresaejunior]

If everything a user aims for is less RAM usage, he/she should really switch to LXQt, IceWM, evilwm or whatever. The strength of Xfce4 is not in being lightweight, as if 100MB of RAM on your desktop would make any difference if each tab in a web browser uses ~64MB...

Its strength is in being very stable and customizable while keeping things simple, and also for not "changing for the sake of change". Only MATE can compare a bit to Xfce4, but Xfce4 is more customizable than MATE IMHO.

[jern]

Annoying commentary, Michael. Do you have any hard data showing that Xfce users are abandonding it? And if so, that they are doing so because of "stagnant development"?

And even the "stagnant development" statement is wrong. There are frequent commits on git. You're usuallly good at following up on commit frequency, why were you lazy about it this time? I would agree only that it's "stagnant" in terms of product releases. But that does not equal development.

I can speak only for myself: I choose Xfce exactly because it's "stagnant" -- it does the job well enough using paradigms that are burnt into my brain, and doesn't try to keep innovating every few months, breaking these hard-earned habits.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the innovation in Unity and GNOME 3. We need to keep pushing the envelope. But, those experimentations have so far resulted in more frustration for me personally than an improved everyday experience. I do watch them closely and try them out, and I'm pretty confident that one day they will hit a sweet spot. Until then, Xfce.

There are some things that do need to get updated in Xfce, but they are in the pipeline and are being developed (see above). I guess some of us are more patient than others.

Have you taken a look at the git activity? The majority of commits are translation updates, even for core components like xfwm4. And it isn't as if core Xfce functionality is fine--the last time I used it it was unusable with more than one monitor. I couldn't even set the primary display! "Stagnant development" can't be far off the mark. When was 4.12 planned for again?

[halo9en]

Xfce just works, I dont see what is the issue with the no newer features added.

Exactly.

I've spent months in the search for the perfect desktop, trying everything the linux world has to offer. In the end, I settled with xfce and I'm happy with it.

[stqn]

Michael, where are your statistics about users leaving Xfce coming from?

[SebastianB]

Well michael isn't completely wrong, those "new" desktops like Mate, Cinnamon and LxQt are gaining users now that they are ported to more and more distributions, and those users have to come from somewhere. Personally i don't use XFCE anymore because i feel it is getting surrounded by more specialized products with similar goals/features. Mate is really configurable and easily installable on pretty much any distro these days, cinnamon is sleek as hell and has the newest bells and whistles cause its based on GTK3 and if im going to run Qt apps or am interested in development LxQt looks pretty interesting, not to mention its also pretty up to date tech wise.

Saying xfce is loosing users is probably a educated guess, the marketshare of desktop linux isn't growing much, the users of the new desktops are coming from somewhere and its just unlikely that they are switching from any DE apart from XFCE.

[dh04000]

Michael, where are your statistics about users leaving Xfce coming from?

The same place that the following statements made by users on Phoronix forums came from..... crazyville.:

"Linux Mint has easily 5 times the users of Ubuntu"

"Valve must have been bought off, those statistics are completely wrong, just look at Distrowatch!"

"Ubuntu ships with years old drivers"


I can't make this up, you people write it. It. Is. Amazing.

[SebastianB]

If you care about statistics one could compare the torret tracker seeds of the different Linux Mint flavours, which would only tell you that XFCE is a bit more popular than Mate but alot less than Cinnamon on that distribution. Not really useful though without a past reference.