The appeal is that GNOME is dumb. There's little you can do to break it. Any boomer can configure it in the settings. And it's very well tested because it has little to test. Yet it can do 95-100% of what you need.

I like it because it's designed. It think it's the only DE with actual designers continuously working on it. It has few options and doesn't feel hacked together.

Gnome is a "It just works" kind of DE. Plus it has better consistency than KDE imo.

What didn't you like about it when you tried it?

I like it because it's pretty, stays out of my way, and mostly "just works" out of the box. KDE seems to encourage the user to configure everything to their liking, but I hate configuring stuff.

GNOME kinda just works. KDE is nice if you want to customize the shit out of it, but just doing my daily work GNOME is just there without causing any trouble. Super reliable in default configuration - and that's really the most important thing for me. Also it looks good, which is bonus.

I don't use Gnome myself, but I have over many years (and before Gnome 3 came out) come to similar conclusions about what you need or don't need, by slowly removing more and more Gnome components from my Gnome 1/2 setup until I only really had the window manager running.

So, thanks to virtual desktops (aka workspaces) and superior window management (like moving/resizing windows with the keyboard, changing focus directionally instead just Alt-Tab, and being able to snap windows to corners or other windows), I tended to have no windows hidden behind other windows. This makes the taskbar and the minimize button unnecessary.

Because I launched apps through shortcuts and the terminal (now I use dmenu), the start menu was unnecessary. The start menu is slow to navigate, and inexplicably only uses a small fraction of the screen. Gnome's launcher thingy uses the whole screen and has a nice search bar.

I never thought putting shortcuts on the desktop was a good idea. They're hidden behind all the windows! Windows 98 (or 95B?) had to invent a new button just to get rid of all the windows so the desktop can be shown. You can create shortcuts on Gnome's launcher thingy and that goes in front of your windows. Whoa imagine that.

I also got rid of title bars from windows on my own setup, because I use keyboard shortcuts to do those things and title bars use up precious screen space. Obviously for users using the mouse, you cannot get rid of the title bar. Gnome opted to instead put extra buttons in there, since title bars tended to be mostly empty space. I think it's a good idea.

I do like when stuff is a little bigger and a bit of space is in between stuff. I think it's aesthetically pleasing and my eyesight isn't great either.

Also since I only rarely use Gnome myself, but I do have it set up on my mom's computer, I appreciate that it's not too overwhelming with the options and buttons. That makes it easier for me to find stuff when I do occasionally use it, and I think it makes it easier for her as well.

I like it because it’s minimalist, consistent, and highly functional. The workflow of GNOME clicks with me

Gnome is my favourite way to use Firefox.

People got used to the user interface assumptions and behaviors involved in smartphones and tablets so now what the gnome people are cooking up is lookin appetizing.

Same thing as windows 11 interface or the back to the numbered releases macos.