“What on earth is this “Desktop Environment”?.. I had a hard enough time with “Distros-vs-versions...etc etc ” "

There is a reason that I left this "for later"....not to overload new users with too many terms all at once.

Desktop Environment

These may be refered to as "D.E." 's for short, include things such as the Menus, context (right-click on the mouse) menu and much more in Windows … it controls HOW you interact with the Operating System.