pls let this be the time we finally get a pretty and functional out-of-the-box de 🙏🙏

“and the list goes on for a while” No it doesn’t, you pretty much name all of them, at least the ones with a decent user base.

Next up: system76 builds their own kernel from scratch to guarantee compatibility with their hardware

I don’t think that’s true. They already invested in customizing gnome and they know there are plenty of other DEs they can switch to. They don’t strike me as a super wealthy company that can direct resources for that endeavor.