Rather than aiming to replace GNOME or ship a new desktop environment, the project treats GNOME as a platform and asks a narrower question: which behaviors and assumptions could be made optional or more cleanly abstracted without compromising a minimalist default experience?

The current focus is on research and documentation rather than implementation. Areas being examined include:

Architectural modularity versus extension-based customization,

Opt-in functionality for features that are disabled or removed upstream,

Preserving established Linux interaction patterns without expanding defaults,

Reducing unnecessary hard dependencies where practical, including systemd-specific assumptions,

The intent is not to “fix” GNOME or argue against upstream decisions, but to explore design tradeoffs around minimalism, flexibility, and long-term maintainability in modern Linux desktops.

At this stage, the project consists primarily of a concept site, documentation, and open design questions. Feedback on the framing, assumptions, and scope is very welcome.

Project site and repository: https://github.com/runleveltwo/GYESME

Thanks for taking a look.