Étoilé – desktop built on GNUStep

I have never played with GNUStep. By the time I actually started real work as a professional software person (2011) it was already kind of considered a joke, so I never bothered learning how to use it.

It bothers me a bit, though. Developing for desktop Linux is still a pain in the ass, and I really wish the Linux community had agreed on One Desktop Framework To Rule Them All, and I think GNUStep could have been that framework if the community had been willing to embrace it.

> I have never played with GNUStep. By the time I actually started real work as a professional software person (2011) it was already kind of considered a joke, so I never bothered learning how to use it.

I dunno if it was a joke or not, but I can confirm that I used Windowmaker as my daily driver from around 2004-ish to 2019-ish.[1]

The only reason I switched, and did not switch back, is due wanting my virtual desktops to be arranged in a 3x3 grid, and Windowmaker did not have that, nor was it on any roadmap.

The thing I miss about my Windowmaker days is how focused it let me be - the entire screen was devoted to a window (or multiple windows); nothing crying out for attention in some bar at the bottom of the screen.

Should I get a few free moments in the near future, I'm tempted to actually add that feature in.

All the other things (taskbar, wifi/sound/etc controls in the taskbar) I can either do without (i.e. I don't need it if I have a decent launcher that is bound to a shortcut), or I can use an existing dockapp.

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[1] Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W_4fH_ccQE