Thanks, TC, for your detailed insight you shared with us! 
First thing that stuck out for me reading your post are the first two points as they align completely with my take on it. At least in regard to the two distributions you mention, not necessarily with the conclusion in detail.
I actually have worked on a draft for some time, giving feedback to Jerry & team regarding LL 3.0. As it fits quite well into this discussion I decided to share some of it here.
Where am I coming from?
Whith series 2.x I was not even considering another distribution. Meanwhile however I catch myself looking around and running the odd tests. Interestingly less for myself than far more for Windows converts I consult and support. Taking all the feedback from users I support and also my own experience into account I'm coming to the conclusion that from a user experience LL 3.0 is sadly some kind of regression.
To name a few:
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.” ~ Bruce Barton
PS 1: The biggest disadvantage I have experienced so far with SolydX is not being able to utilize PPAs. Other from that I'm very tempted.
PS2: TC, have you had a look at gThumb as an alternative for Gwenview? One of the packages I always install on any Linux Lite installation. I don't have used Gwenview before but a short look at the homepage reminded me of gthumb straight away.
Thanks for your time
First thing that stuck out for me reading your post are the first two points as they align completely with my take on it. At least in regard to the two distributions you mention, not necessarily with the conclusion in detail.
I actually have worked on a draft for some time, giving feedback to Jerry & team regarding LL 3.0. As it fits quite well into this discussion I decided to share some of it here.
Where am I coming from?
- Linux Lite is still my first choice for a Desktop Linux System.
- I highly appreciate the outstanding community on this forum as well as the great work Jerry and his team is making available to us.
- One of my guiding principles: There is always room for improvements.
Whith series 2.x I was not even considering another distribution. Meanwhile however I catch myself looking around and running the odd tests. Interestingly less for myself than far more for Windows converts I consult and support. Taking all the feedback from users I support and also my own experience into account I'm coming to the conclusion that from a user experience LL 3.0 is sadly some kind of regression.
To name a few:
- updater gone
- control center gone
- windows resizing problems
- default window theme that doesn't distinguish overlaying windows ... already during installation
- notification icons very dark on black panel background
- severe bug that leads to data loss when editing remote files via sftp/Thunar (maybe nothing to do with LL itself)
- menu (still) very disorganized, especially in regard to Accessories, Settings, and System
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.” ~ Bruce Barton
PS 1: The biggest disadvantage I have experienced so far with SolydX is not being able to utilize PPAs. Other from that I'm very tempted.
PS2: TC, have you had a look at gThumb as an alternative for Gwenview? One of the packages I always install on any Linux Lite installation. I don't have used Gwenview before but a short look at the homepage reminded me of gthumb straight away.
Thanks for your time