openSUSE developers are considering terminating the aging LXDE desktop environment and replacing it with E17.
The main argument for this decision is the LXDE hasn’t been updated in a long time and that E17 is actively maintained. This means that new features would be added regularly to the desktop environment.
“I'd like to make E17 available for OpenSuSE users through installer and on DVD. Unfortunately DVD is already more than full so to get something in means get something out at the same time. There is one obvious choice - LXDE doesn't seem to be much alive.”
This doesn't mean that packages would be dropped, it only means that packages won't be available on DVD and installation choice would be removed,” said openSUSE developer Tomas Cech, in a mailing list message.
Linux distributions are changing desktop environments all the time, so this is actually good news. Moreover, fans of LXDE will be able to get a hold of their favorite desktop environment from the repositories.