Hyprland's Developer Is Not A Fan Of COSMIC Desktop

Summary

The video script discusses the COSMIC Desktop Alpha, noting its current rough state with missing features but also highlighting its solid foundation. The speaker, a fan of the hyprland project, compares COSMIC to other window managers and desktop environments, emphasizing its potential despite bugs and limited customization. They address the mixed reception, including System76's promotional tactics and the community's varied responses. The script also touches on the importance of a clear project goal and the challenges of managing expectations, suggesting COSMIC could significantly impact the desktop environment market.

Takeaways

• 🌌 The speaker is excited about the potential of the COSMIC Desktop, despite it being an Alpha version with many missing features.
• 🔨 The COSMIC Desktop Alpha is not yet ready for daily use due to its rough state and lack of basic functionalities like hover-to-focus.
• 👍 The speaker appreciates the positive reception of COSMIC, acknowledging its solid foundation and potential for future development.
• 🤔 The speaker questions the overly positive coverage of COSMIC, suggesting that as an Alpha, it should have expected bugs and missing features.
• 🔄 The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding COSMIC's current Alpha stage and not focusing on minor bugs that are likely to be fixed soon.
• 💬 There's a discussion about the role of System76's PR team in promoting COSMIC, highlighting that their job is to create excitement, not to provide unbiased reviews.
• 🤝 The speaker, as a developer of hyprland, sees COSMIC as a potential catalyst for change in the Wayland development ecosystem, offering a third major desktop option.
• 💻 The speaker criticizes the design language of COSMIC but acknowledges that this is subjective and that improvements in density settings are expected in future releases.
• 📉 The speaker points out that some negative reviews of COSMIC are being downvoted, suggesting a mixed reception, but also questions the validity of these criticisms.
• 🔧 The speaker encourages reporting bugs and issues directly to the developers to help improve the product, rather than just criticizing publicly.

Q & A

What is the current state of the COSMIC Desktop mentioned in the script?

The COSMIC Desktop is currently in its Alpha stage, which means it is still under development and not yet ready for daily use. It is described as 'very rough' and missing many features expected in a fully functional desktop environment.

What are some of the basic features the speaker expects but are missing from the COSMIC Desktop Alpha?

The speaker expects basic features like hover-to-focus on a window instead of click-to-focus, which are not yet present in the COSMIC Desktop Alpha.

What is the speaker's general opinion on the hyprland project?

The speaker is a fan of the hyprland project, having previously considered it the best wlroots-based compositor. Even after hyprland moved away from wlroots, the speaker still regards it as the best stand-alone Wayland window manager.

What does the speaker think about the reception of COSMIC Desktop Alpha?

The speaker feels that the coverage of COSMIC has been overwhelmingly positive, which might not accurately represent its current alpha state. They suggest that the positive reception could be due to the excitement around a new project rather than its current functionality.

Why does the speaker believe that the COSMIC Desktop is getting mixed reviews?

The speaker suggests that the mixed reviews might be due to the fact that COSMIC is still in its alpha stage, and users have different expectations. Some might be excited about the potential, while others might be critical of the current state of the software.

What is the speaker's stance on the role of System76 in promoting COSMIC?

The speaker understands that System76, as the creators of COSMIC, are promoting it positively as part of their PR strategy. They acknowledge that it is the job of the PR team to create excitement and that the company is not expected to provide a balanced view of the product.

What does the speaker think about the design language of COSMIC?

The speaker is critical of the design language in COSMIC, describing it as one of the worst they've seen. However, they also acknowledge that this is a subjective opinion.

What is the speaker's view on the potential of COSMIC to change the desktop environment landscape?

The speaker believes that COSMIC, along with other projects like Smithay, has the potential to shake up the Wayland development ecosystem by offering a third major desktop option, which can influence the pace and direction of development.

Why does the speaker think that the criticism of COSMIC is not entirely fair?

The speaker argues that some criticisms of COSMIC are not fair because they are based on the product's current alpha state, which is expected to have bugs and missing features. They suggest that the focus should be on the core concepts and the direction of the project rather than on immediate shortcomings.

What does the speaker suggest as the potential audience for COSMIC Desktop?

The speaker suggests that the potential audience for COSMIC includes users who are interested in a tiling system within a desktop environment, those who want a balance between a simple out-of-the-box experience and the ability to tinker, and users who prefer not to configure everything from the terminal.