Rewording the norm to maxi and making mini the norm doesn't change a thing,
besides feeling in the norm or something if you have a super old machine.
But it raises an interesting question : what that norm actually is. The main
"Ubuntu/Debian/other very popular distro" LiveCD is (correct me if I'm wrong)
a full-blown liveCD (GNOME/KDE). Why? It's easy to assume that that choice is
made because most machines can handle it (beyond the 2 years old limit).
I know, two assumptions in a row, but for example this, from the Debian
website:
We recognize that there are only two important classes of users: the novice,
and the expert. We will do everything we can to make things very easy for the
novice, while allowing the expert to tweak things if they like.
We will try to ensure that software is configured for the most common desktop
use. For instance, the regular user account added by default during
installation should have permission to play audio and video, print, and
manage the system through sudo.
https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-desktop/
If Enlightment is too demanding to set up, it will be too demanding to update
(most likely).
There's also LXDE, even ligther than XFCE.
