Keep in mind: I wasn't actually trying to convince you to install a DE if you don't want to use one. I'm a KDE upstream developer, and our KDE Frameworks 5 library set explicitly supports writing applications for shell environments other than Plasma (and even other than Linux), and many of the KDE Applications projects care greatly about their audience outside Plasma's userbase as well, including some of my own.
My point was that the DE development and user community has greatly enriched the ecosystem in general, and continues to do so. I'd like it if people who aren't fond of DE UIs (which, again, is fine by me) would acknowledge that more, instead of disparaging DEs as they often do. It shows a lack of understanding of how things work and flow in the greater community. The reality is that your experience outside the DEs would be far poorer today if the DEs didn't exist, because it's been and continues to be the DEs that drive many platform-y developments that enhance applications. Know whose work you rely on and what motivates them.
But of course, I can provide some concrete examples of shared global state popping up in my own workflows:
* The KDE platform has a framework to manage user search engines. You can manage them in System Settings, Plasma's control center application. Many KDE Applications will alow you to select text and hand it off to a search engine from the context menu (along with providing an entry point into the management UI, which can also run outside of System Settings; this takes care of making it work outside Plasma). The Plasma Desktop shell does the same, though, with its Run Command box, which is one keyboard shortcut away, also being aware of search engines and being able to start searches.
* The shell similary exposes things like favorite file system locations, which also pop up in file dialogs and file managers, in Run Command, the launcher, and other places.
* The KDE platform has the best support for international calender systems and calendering data like holiday information available in free software today, and the clock/calendar thingie you can stuff in a Plasma panel reflects those abilities, as do the applications built on the same platform.
And many other little examples broadly in the same vain. As you can see, the pattern is: The platform can do a lot, and there's some benefits to the shell being built on the same platform as the applications, at least for me. That doesn't need to be the same for you; you may interact with your computer in different patterns. You still get to enjoy the applications.
My point was that the DE development and user community has greatly enriched the ecosystem in general, and continues to do so. I'd like it if people who aren't fond of DE UIs (which, again, is fine by me) would acknowledge that more, instead of disparaging DEs as they often do. It shows a lack of understanding of how things work and flow in the greater community. The reality is that your experience outside the DEs would be far poorer today if the DEs didn't exist, because it's been and continues to be the DEs that drive many platform-y developments that enhance applications. Know whose work you rely on and what motivates them.
But of course, I can provide some concrete examples of shared global state popping up in my own workflows:
* The KDE platform has a framework to manage user search engines. You can manage them in System Settings, Plasma's control center application. Many KDE Applications will alow you to select text and hand it off to a search engine from the context menu (along with providing an entry point into the management UI, which can also run outside of System Settings; this takes care of making it work outside Plasma). The Plasma Desktop shell does the same, though, with its Run Command box, which is one keyboard shortcut away, also being aware of search engines and being able to start searches.
* The shell similary exposes things like favorite file system locations, which also pop up in file dialogs and file managers, in Run Command, the launcher, and other places.
* The KDE platform has the best support for international calender systems and calendering data like holiday information available in free software today, and the clock/calendar thingie you can stuff in a Plasma panel reflects those abilities, as do the applications built on the same platform.
And many other little examples broadly in the same vain. As you can see, the pattern is: The platform can do a lot, and there's some benefits to the shell being built on the same platform as the applications, at least for me. That doesn't need to be the same for you; you may interact with your computer in different patterns. You still get to enjoy the applications.