Zak on Nostr: Theming two laptop operating systems over the course of the last few days has really ...

Theming two laptop operating systems over the course of the last few days has really made me realize why we all view our devices as temporary and borderline disposable. It's easy to jump from device to device and upgrade every year or two when you're unable to ever make a device that you purchase truly "yours" by customizing it. If it remains a screen that runs apps, and they look and work the same way everywhere, then the piece if hardware that you're using doesn't matter beyond its specs. And there's always something better that you can buy.

On the other hand, as I mentioned a few days ago, you can customize the exterior of any device by investing in premium materials to wrap it in. A wood skin for a laptop, or a leather case for a phone, or a fabric sleeve for a tablet. Once that's done, the ability to change the way that your device looks and works at the software level truly makes it yours.

You just can't do that with a mobile OS. Linux makes it easy, although admittedly gtk4 customization is lacking for the sake of consistency. But at least there's choice.