The question is: Will Wayland, Flatpak, immutability, PipeWire, etc. save the Linux Desktop?

No, they won't, and they never will. What will save (or has saved) the Linux Desktop is a cultural shift in the community to make it robust, secure, inclusive, and accessible. Technical solutions cannot address social problems.

*This* is why we have systemd, Wayland, Flatpak, immutable distros, PipeWire and all these "next-gen" (some current-gen) technologies. It's a legitimate cultural shift to focus on making the Linux Desktop better for the vast majority of users.

You know what else would improve the Linux desktop? Getting rid of toxic users. Adding a code of conduct also drives away a lot of bigots, which is great for people who belong to marginalized groups.

Speaking of reducing toxicity, I realized that my original post caused one toxic user to switch from GNOME to KDE. And that's wonderful news for GNOME! This person has been making fun of GNOME developers (mind you, volunteers) for a while, and then claimed to be a designer. I hope they don't turn KDE into a hellhole.