Whenever I'm working on my computer in front of my girlfriend, she always says something to the degree of "I don't get how you can get anything done with all of that complicated mess on your screen".
And honestly I get it. To me it looks like a highly refined setup, each tweak made to maximise the ease of getting the task at hand completed. But to the layman, It looks like a nonsensical mess.
When I found this post (please read it it is a quick one), I came into it skeptically, but after reading it, the author does make a good point:
"If my Windows/Python/Notepad++ setup is more ubiquitous, understandable, intuitive and replicable than your obscure Arch/Hyprland build with its hundred painstakingly typed-out customizations for every single software in it, then my setup is better and more minimalist than yours."
I'd say the author puts way too much emphasis on how much cognitive load is actually required to write a configuration file, but I'd be lying if there have been times that I had avoided "minimalist" projects in favour of ones with a graphical configuration and a mainstream audience for the sole reason of needing something to "just work" in a time crunch.
However, in times where I am not in a crunch, when I have the time to fiddle around, I almost solely look at "minimalist" software; Software that gives me the tools, an instruction manual, and nothing else. I have sunk hours over the years into my configuration of HerbstluftWM, to the point where I regularly start using my hotkeys on other systems, only to be utterly confused as to why nothing is happening, before recognising which computer I'm really on.
There are times where I get into a flow, each thing behaves exactly as how I programmed and I'm able to be incredibly productive, but it is only that way because I have invested the time. Realistically, the productivity difference is probably negligible in comparison to being used to a standard desktop environment. However, there is a great joy and peace of mind that comes with knowing how each moving part works.
So is a hodgepodge of a dozen or more utilities really more "minimalist"? Maybe not. However, you can reasonably understand more completely how each one of those dozen utilities work on their own in comparison to the behemoth that is something like KDE or Gnome. Each piece in itself is minimalist in a sense.
Also as for it being "self-imposed complexity and worthless dogma ... straight-up asinine" to dedicate time into customizations, I couldn't really disagree more. If you don't get joy out of your customizing, then yeah just use one of the many "does what it says on the tin" options. As for it being worthless dogma, I understand where it's coming from. Starting off I did switch to a independent WM and terminal apps because it was what all the cool people were doing, but as my career has progressed, the familiarity with the command line and understanding of how pieces are interconnected has proven to be invaluable. Being able to play around with code in programming languages I had never touched before provided that foot in the door. Making the 100th calculator app or millionth hello world in a language is boring. You know what isn't? Modifying the window manager and getting to enjoy the fruits of my labour.
I think that profound joy is shared by my fellow tinkerers, but it's hard to communicate effectively why it's fun. We come up with justifications for putting time into something that to most people don't care about. Is it really more productive to use a tiler? Not really. Is it really more minimal than a modern DE? Maybe by a dozen MB of ram, inconsequential. Is it a way for a person to learn valuable skills while building something that reflects what they value? Absolutely.
I regularly check my email, If I don't respond quickly, send me a poke:
jasco.website@pm.me