Actually, in the end, I came out even and my original post is worth +1.
Obviously, everyone has an opinion. You are entitled to yours.
Mine is mine and that of most UX people I have spoken to. I have used XFCE, I have used CDE, NextSTEP, the Irix UI, Gnome, KDE, Comice OS, Mint Linux, all versions of Windows, all version of Mac OS...and I happen to believe Mac OS X is the culmination of decades of gradual, tedious, laborious, unoriginal improvement. I just happen to believe it's better than any alternative.
I may be wrong. I am not a man of great certainties.
My original point stands: People should spend less time repackaging existing distributions with a different logo and background image, and more time coming up with a UI that can compete with something a proprietary, profit-oriented entity came up with.
Obviously, everyone has an opinion. You are entitled to yours.
Mine is mine and that of most UX people I have spoken to. I have used XFCE, I have used CDE, NextSTEP, the Irix UI, Gnome, KDE, Comice OS, Mint Linux, all versions of Windows, all version of Mac OS...and I happen to believe Mac OS X is the culmination of decades of gradual, tedious, laborious, unoriginal improvement. I just happen to believe it's better than any alternative. I may be wrong. I am not a man of great certainties.
My original point stands: People should spend less time repackaging existing distributions with a different logo and background image, and more time coming up with a UI that can compete with something a proprietary, profit-oriented entity came up with.