I thought that MATE, KDE, Cinnamon were the top Linux desktop environments. Then I tried out Cosmic and for me, it is better.
Why? Well for lots of reasons. First it has both a mac/windows feel to it. That is blending the best of both, not just sticking to a UI because it looks nicer to you or you are used to it. You can see it has a mac dock, but it also has the ability to have the mac/windows systray/items and they are nicely setup.
Specifically I frequently switch during the day between sound outputs. Sometimes I use the built in speakers, and sometimes I use my headphones. Mostly I use my headphones so with other Linux environments they can be more tricky to easily change. However with Cosmic in the drop down in the menu/systray it shows the various ones and that makes it super easy to choose between the multiple sound options that want. It is the most superior idea of handling different sound inputs. Better than mac/windows or other Linux distributions. For me this is a strong incentive to stick with this because I frequently switch due to work and noise in my environment.
There are many strong reasons to like Cosmic. If you have problems with accessibility this walks you through the process. When you first log in there is a wizard that easily helps you set it up. This means that non IT people can immediately start using it, which now means it is more intuitive than Cinnamon for windows refugees. With the options that it showed just in the wizard on setup, it is more customizable and things make sense where they are at.
I also didn’t see glitchy behavior that I saw with other Linux environments. If i see glitches the first time I am logging in, that isn’t a good sign about quality control. It doesn’t inspire me to use it. I tried one out distro/spin today and 30 seconds after booting in, i was logging out. Errors and a terrible interface had me saying no quickly.
What is there not to like? I found the software update a little confusing but honestly that was probably me. I poked around to get it so other people may not care if they don’t respond to the pop up window. Honestly this is probably a non-issue for most people since they either wont care to update, or will be smarter than me and see to select all and then apply to update the packages.
I really like so many things about this spin/desktop environment. I think I am going to stick with this for awhile.