The majority of Linux distributions out there seem to be over-engineering their method of distribution. They are not giving us a new distribution of Linux. They are giving us an existing distribution of Linux, but with a different distribution of non-system software (like a different desktop environment or configuration of it)
In many cases, turning an installation of the base distribution used to the one they’re shipping is a matter of installing certain packages and setting some configurations. Why should the user be required to reinstall their whole OS for this?
It would be way more practical if those distributions are available as packages, preferably managed by the package manager itself. This is much easier for both the user and the developer.
Some developers may find it less satisfying to do this, and I don’t mean to force my opinion on anyone, but only suggesting that there’s an easier way to do this. Distributions should be changing things that aren’t easily doable without a system reinstall.
Hard disagree. I installed kubuntu on a Gnome Ubuntu to try it out and the duplication of system tools and helper programs was maddening. I had two key managers, two settings screens, three times as many daemons, and there was something weird going on with the theme I had applied.
During online installation it makes sense to pick a DE and install that, but unless you expect installer images to ship with every DE under the sun separate installer disks like Kubuntu make total sense.