If you want to understand why I’m so pissed off about such a “minor” thing (icons, pfft!) it’s because this year I will be showing my Linux desktop to 1000s of people at conferences and I want to challenge their preconceptions about FOSS; to know that FOSS can be beautiful.
@aral This is actually a thing.
It is visual consistency that helped me make the jump from macOS to Linux many years ago.
I’m not a techie plus a very visual user, and if it weren’t for @elementary OS' much-derided styleguide, I would probably still sit in my gilded iCage wondering what might be on the other side.
I had tried other distros, but being unable to see the beauty of code or licenses, you’re left with the GUI and UX – and coming from macOS, most felt like an assault on the senses.
@dirk @aral what do you think of #PureOS in this regard? The last version of #MacOS my wife's veteran #MacBook can run goes end-of-life later this year. I'm trying to convince her to try installing a GNU/Linux on it, instead of giving Apple more money for a new one. The more similar the look-and-feel is to MacOS, the easier her transition will be. So as much as I'd love to put #Trisquel on it, I think I'm more likely to succeed with #elementaryOS. But PureOS could be the best of both worlds.
@strypey I haven't used PureOS yet, but it looks like both distros are valid choices.
Being used to #elementaryOS, PureOS looks a little less polished, but I heard that you can import your iTunes library without much hassle.
Elementary otoh tries to deliver a terminal-free experience. So you get notifications when there are updates and you can install them via the AppCenter GUI.
Also, if you install elementary tweaks there's an option to make windows look more OSX-like.
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@dirk
> "small islets of familiarity
... is a nice way to put it :) I've been gradually introducing my wife to a range of #FreeCode apps over the years. She's already on Firefox and she only uses webmail, so Thunderbird isn't needed (yet). She has used LibreOffice although she complains about the UI. Not being able to install MS Office easily is one reason she hesitates to make the leap. She likes #Transmission ;) I've also replaced other proprietary apps like #Adobe Reader spyware > #Skim.
@strypey In any case I would recommend to already switching to apps like Thunderbird, Firefox or the LibreOffice suite before she makes the jump, so that there are small islets of familiarity from the get-go. That helps!
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