I totally see your point and I tried GNOME first to have a uniquely Linux experience. I do agree with you. But the inflexibility of GNOME by default made it a much harder flip. I tried it with PopOS too, after using Debian for a while.
Plus tbh, I don’t think with still how much you need to use the terminal for linux, anyone would be mistaken in the transition. Windows has kludge from the 90s for their settings and linux still needs terminal.
Just waiting on what the Standard Notes collaboration pans out to. Also wish they’d flesh out their side projects fully before adding more and more new toys to the suite.