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IMHO, MX-15 has got XFCE right.
http://www.mepiscommunity.org/...

Take a look at antiX Linux and MX Linux. They are both modern distros with fairly modern desktops and they don't use systemd.

Check out MX Linux and antiX Linux. They are not in the top 10 distros but they are solidly in the top 30. They're based on Debian but don't use systemd. They also have some pretty neat features and friendly communities.

Check out MX Linux and antiX Linux. They are not in the top 10 distros but they are solidly in the top 30. They're based on Debian but don't use systemd. They also have some pretty neat features and friendly communities.

Check out MX Linux and antiX Linux. They are not in the top 10 distros but they are solidly in the top 30. They're based on Debian but don't use systemd. They also have some pretty neat features and friendly communities.

As good a manual as I've seen for a Linux distro.
http://www.mepiscommunity.org/...

First: you should try a KDE-specific distro like SimplyMepis or OpenSUSE, as they focus on integrating & polishing -- Debian deliberately leaves environments in their default state for users to customize/integrate. Debian is also famously *not* for newbies; if you want your father to give Linux a try, put him in front of a distro that specializes in the environment, is user-friendly and has a newbie-welcoming community. (SimplyMepis again is what I strongly recommend for KDE 4 -- you'd have to ask around for suggestions regarding other environments.)

90% of your rant didn't actually apply to KDE (I'm not even sure how much it applied to recent releases of the other environments)... However, the only reason "Activities" popped up because you evidently clicked on the wrong button. (That I feel is the KDE team's fault; I did the same thing, since they have it in the corner and the normal menu off by one space.) That said, when I did a new install to test SimplyMepis 12 a few months ago, I noticed the "activities" icon in the panel alongside the normal menu, deleted it, and moved on.

Looking at my desktop, which is pretty standard for KDE 4.5+, it's no more complex or confusing than Windows 7 is: all of the windows follow the same visual theme, icons are consistent; the programs/windows have the same sorts of titles that they would in any OS: System Settings, Firefox, Open Office. You won't find anything different from Windows 7 or OS X in that department. LXRandR isn't in KDE -- we control our monitors through System Settings, and optionally can run a utility specific to KDE that lets us do it from the system tray if we want to.

*Any* operating system or environment a person sits down to that's markedly different from the one(s) they're used to is going to require some degree of adjustment & learning new terms. That said, most of your reported conversation with your father could just as easily apply to Ubuntu/Unity:

"...you're using Ubuntu." "I though I was using Linux." "You are, it's the Ubuntu distribution." "[What is Unity, then?]" "That's the desktop environment."

"This says I'm using X windows" "That's the underlying display architecture..." Users of Windows don't know what GDI is unless they're looking for it. Same with Quartz and Mac OS X.

Average/non-geek users of KDE 4 don't know about it either, because terms like "X-Windows" don't appear -- just ones like "display" or "monitors." Relatively few technical terms appear these days, for that matter.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "modern" as you claim the term applies to Ubuntu when colorful looks have been trending. Similar for your use of "unified," considering KDE, Trinity, MATE, etc each apply a color scheme & theme to virtually all windows. (Snarky aside: "unless by 'unified' you mean all users locked to the devs' preferred look?") Just as importantly, they let their userbase share themes regardless of what distro we're in, helping ensure that all users of an environment can have the desktops be as modern, retro, colorful, or drab as we wish... After all, we're all Linux OS users first & foremost, and which distro (customized copy of Linux) we use is and should be secondary.