This “you can fix it yourself” argument is really tiring sometimes.

For a project like nautilus, there are very few people with the resources and motivation to fix anything. So we end up with underdeveloped open source products.

Maybe we should try “we need better funding and coordination” for open source projects.

Not only that, but the people who do have the resources and motivation quickly hit the brick wall that is contributing to Gnome. Engaging with the Gnome team from the outside is exhausting.

I think most open source projects need better funding and coordination. The fact of the matter is that if you want something, you can ask nicely, pay for it or make it yourself. Asking nicely usually ends with "no", which is a perfectly valid response, and the other options are often too expensive (nobody wants to pay full dev time for adding and maintaining feature in Nautilus) or too much work.

I used to think that surely the GNOME people had enough resources to develop feature X until I saw how few GNOME developers there really are for a project this size. Until more people join in and start developing in their free time, "basic" features people all want so badly simply won't appear any time soon.

Gnome developers actively discourage fixing things yourself even though they often use that as a reply to bug reports. Fixes are often rejected as "not bugs" so most just give up and move on.

Or you can just acknowledge that all software comes with warts, problems, and limitations.

And be thankful that you can use whatever manager you want. And don't have to use Apple's file manager.

Yeah, you can fix everything yourself. Up until you get tired of fixing and just use a normal OS that isn't breaking something random every update.

To be honest, if you "freeze" an installation (i.e. never update anything), it works pretty well!

The difference between server and desktop packages seems to be professionalism - the latter just aren't developed/maintained to the same standards as the former. I love Linux and what you can do with theming, though, it's quite amazing.

except that isn't the answer gnome is notorious for being a pain to work with if it doesn't align with their vision.

Case study: https://youtu.be/ON0A1dsQOV0

I hope you like maintaining a fork forever, because that's the most likely outcome.

At this point, Nautilus really is just a file manager! It isn't the file chooser; it doesn't mount external devices; it isn't the desktop background.

If something is hindering one's ability to create an alternative file manager, there is probably a completely uncontroversial patch that can be sent upstream.