This feels like the reviewers expected Debian to create their own desktop environment between releases or something. The point of Debian has always been a stable experience, not to be flashy.

Those installer problems are mysterious. I just installed Debian 12 with no issues, so in my book, being able to use WiFi from the outset was enough of an improvement to earn a couple big ol’ thumbs up.

Unfortunate experience, and something I’ve never had happen with Debian. I’ve been on 12 for awhile. Of course I didn’t clean install, just did a normal dist-upgrade and had no problems, as has been the case for the last decade or so on this machine.