Hi Steve-O, you describe why you like XFCE over Mate as:
> nicer default programs, easier to customise how I like, marginally better performance
Could you maybe expand on this? Which default programs do you think are better and why? What do you customize and how does XFCE maker it easier? How did you measure the performance? Were there any other differences you didn't mention?
I've found the Mate desktop in Flidas (T9) a big improvement, offering a similar UX to GNOME Fallback but with a resource footprint much closer to LXDE. I'd support a switch to XFCE as the default desktop for Etiona (T9), if those who use and champion it make a strong case for why it's better than Mate.
I haven't tried XFCE for about 10 years, but this comment from a late 2018 review of a number of recent distros with XFCE as the default desktop, pretty much sums up how I felt about it then, and why I didn't stick with it:
> "I did pay more love and attention to Xfce this year than last year, but the sentiment remains. The Xfce desktop seems to have stalled, and it’s in some odd limbo state, in between leading and following."
http://www.ocsmag.com/2018/12/05/best-xfce-distro-of-2018/
