There is no One Linux Way: that's why there's so many different DEs and other various competing projects.

GNOME itself is an attempt to give Joe Average what he wants: the whole idea of modern GNOME is to take a tablet-oriented UI and put it on a desktop computer.

The problem is that the people behind projects like GNOME think they're the next Henry Ford, who famously said that what people really wanted was a faster horse, and instead made what he wanted people to have (i.e., motor cars that are in any color you like, as long as you like black).