I&#x27;m a little picky in my desktop distro, and the two metics I judge by are these:<p>1. How quickly after a fresh install I can get the desktop into a state where I like it. This is mostly just adding things that aren&#x27;t included, removing things that are, tweaking keyboard shortcuts, etc.<p>2. How many of what I&#x27;ll call &quot;mundane IT issues&quot; I bump into in the course of daily, non-developer use.<p>Note that #1 is based almost entirely on a personal preference and #2 is based on what I happen to need to do on any random day of the week. I don&#x27;t expect it to carry over perfectly to anyone else&#x27;s experience.<p>I will say, however, that I am more impressed with Linux Mint 17.3 (Cinnamon) than with any desktop Linux since middle years of Crunchbang, when it had hit its stride. If Mint 18 is just as solid, Mint might become the desktop distro I&#x27;ve spent the longest single stretch of time with. It would need 2 more years to hit that mark, but because they are basing each version on the 2-year Ubuntu LTS cycle, it seems possible.