 One of the comments I get the most regarding tiling window managers is hey DT Why do all tiling window managers who look the same? Why do they all function the same way? It seems all tiling window managers do the same thing. So what's the point and is that true? Do all tiling window managers kind of do the same thing? Well, let me switch over to my desktop I'm in DWM today and if I did a super shift enter on the keyboard I could open up my D menu and I could run Firefox from D menu super shift C to close I could do a super enter to open a terminal and I could super enter to open another terminal and another and another and another That is the standard master and stack layout if I did super shift C I could start closing some of these terminals and now that I have these two terminals open I could do super H and super L to resize these two windows depending on how much screen real estate I want each window to have I do super shift C again to close super shift C to close and if I did a super shift Q I could quit out of DWM and this is me in the awesome window manager once again if I hit super shift enter I could bring up D menu and I could run something like Firefox again super shift C to close super enter would bring up my terminals and again I could open up some more terminals and again this is the standard master and stack layout that I personally prefer and again super shift C could close some of these once again I could use the keyboard to resize the windows also there is mouse functionality if I wanted to use it I could grab the window with the right click on the mouse and resize these windows although the prompts here in the fish shell kind of get messed up once again super shift C to close super shift C to close and then super shift Q to quit out of awesome same thing in Qtile I could bring up a D menu and I could launch a file manager and I can close and then I could open some terminals or whatever programs I want to open up and again I've got the master and stack I could close some terminals and I could resize the windows and once again super shift C to close the windows super shift Q to quit out of Qtile I could do the same thing in Xmonad I could run something I could close some windows I could open some windows whatever programs I want to open master and stack layout I could close some windows and I can resize some windows super shift C to close super shift C to close super shift Q if I wanted to exit out of Xmonad and of course that is just four of the 10 or 12 tiling window managers I have installed on the system I would have done the exact same things in I3, Erb's, Luft, BSPWM, Spectre, WM and whatever else I happen to have installed on my system so yes in fact all of my tiling window managers look and function exactly the same but I think a lot of people that use desktop environments think that that is a bug that is not a bug that is a feature all tiling window managers they don't have to look the same but they can look the same tiling window managers are what you make it so you always tailor it to do what you want it to do you tailor it to your needs to your workflow and because I have 10 or 12 tiling window managers installed on my system of course they all look and function the same way because I want them to all look and function the same way I don't want to be confused when I log into a different window manager I have a certain workflow that I use and I want each and every one of my window managers to fit that workflow that is the point of tiling window managers is that you can make them whatever it is you need them to be and a lot of people that use full desktop environments are under this impression well they're used to using these desktop environments that they can't change so when they log into GNOME they know GNOME is nothing like plasma and when they log into XFCE they know it's going to look nothing like budgie so naturally the question is from these people hey why do you even need all these tiling window managers why can't we just have one if they all do the same thing well you basically create your own desktop environment with a tiling window manager and even though they all have infinite possibilities therefore they can all do the same thing they're not exactly the same they're all programmed in different programming languages some of them may be easier for you to use because you know that particular programming language for example I know a little Haskell so I'm comfortable with Xmoned I don't know NAC so maybe I'm not that comfortable in DWM but I can get around in Python so Qtiles pretty cool but Lua uh you know awesome window manager may not be the best window manager for me so it's picking the right one that fits your needs initially and from there where you go with it and the sky's the limit and ultimately this is the reason to run a tiling window manager is because you can tailor it exactly to your needs and once you do that it's your desktop environment you never have to worry about it changing on you you never have to worry about logging in one day and being presented with this foreign desktop environment that's completely changed because it just had a major upgrade from version three to version four or whatever it happens to be you don't have to worry about that when you run a standalone tiling window manager because it's just a part of a desktop environment your desktop environment the one you created and I can't stress how freeing that is when you know that you are not chained to somebody else's vision of what a desktop environment looks like what it should act and feel like you never have to do that again it's it's almost like when you ran Windows or when you ran Mac you know those operating systems are so locked down you can't change anything you can't change anything maybe if you pay a little money you can get some customization programs to tweak just a few minor details of the operating system but for the most part you can't change anything in Windows or Mac and that's kind of what it's like when you run something like GNOME or plasma or XFCE yeah you can customize a few things yes I know plasma has a lot of little widgets that you can tinker with but for the most part you can do about one percent in plasma the amount of customization you can do in any full feature tiling window manager that's just the fact and the reason I push tiling window manager so much on the channel is because I'm really trying to free you guys I'm telling you when you run GNOME or plasma or any of the big bloated desktop environments cinnamon budgie all that stuff it's the same thing as running Windows or Mac practically you're locked down into something that you have so few customization options where when you run a standalone tiling window manager the possibilities are endless whatever you want to make happen you can make it happen assuming you have some technical abilities maybe some scripting and programming abilities and even if you're not some hardcore programmer don't worry about it many of these tiling window managers you can still customize because you can find other people's scripts you can find other people's configuration files on github and gitlab and you can pick and choose you know sections of code that you didn't necessarily have to write but you know you can kind of play around with things without being like some kind of master programmer and still configure a proper desktop environment when i started in linux i was not a programmer i'm still not a programmer but i can still you know get around you know i taught myself enough haskell that i could create my xmonad config and create my desktop environment here in xmonad and i think some people just think it's some kind of arrogant elitism that i have and that other people in the linux community have when we try to promote the use of tiling window managers and other standalone window managers floating window managers as well but it's not elitism it's not about trying to get more people into our special club we're really trying again to free you guys ultimately what is important in running linux and free and open source software it's customization it's flexibility it's being able to do what you want to do with the software you use and again i'm just trying to to open your mind i'm trying to get you to the point where once you get gain enough knowledge and you have the resolve to do so you can make your own desktop environment you basically can make your own operating system and you no longer are a desktop environment fanboy of whatever particular desktop environment because they no longer matter that you're a fan of one desktop environment the one you created you're no longer a linux distro fanboy you're not a fan of a boon to and fedora and mint and elementary or whatever it is that you're a fanboy of no no you are a fan of your operating system the one you created you realize distros don't matter that's what i'm trying to get you guys to to eventually ascend to now before i go i want to thank a few special people want to thank michael gape haplunate corbinian mitchell entropy uk arch 5530 chuck dj donnie dylan george lewis amry paul shon tabias and willie these guys they are the producers of the show they are my highest tiered patrons over on patreon without these guys the show wouldn't be possible the show is also brought to you by each and every one of these ladies and gentlemen those are all my supporters over on patreon if you'd like to support the channel look for dt over on patreon all right guys peace