Gnome or KDE: which is the future?

[zero777zero]

hi, i'm not a developer and i don't know much about this subject, but i'm wondering which desktop environment will take the lead in the next 5-10 years.

[chucky chuckaluck]

9wm will make a huge comeback.

[zurack]

Silly poll for a gnome forum ](*,)

[MikeTheC]

Aw, man, I was hoping for lights and toggle switches myself!

[CJ Master]

While I love gnome, the project seems at a standstill. KDE4 is constantly improving and innovating.

And I agree, silly poll for a gnome forum.

[unknownPoster]

dwm is the wave of the future.

seriously though...
recurring discussion is recurring

[Jpenguin]

KDE

don't get me wring- I like gnome, but unless they do something as major as the KDE3-KDE4 rewrite, I don't see gnome as the future

[MikeTheC]

Not that any software offering cannot be improved upon, but...

What is it about Gnome that needs to be changed, or should be changed? I wouldn't want it to be changed to be like KDE, for instance, because then there'd be no reason for me to like Gnome.

Gnome is very -- very -- much like the Finder from Mac OS, and even somewhat like the Aqua Finder from Mac OS X, and that's a good thing. There's a lot of great functionality and methodology. KDE -- and I've given 4.1 and 4.2 alpha/beta a fair shot -- is pretty much the Windows-like antithesis of this.

Why the heck would I want Gnome to be less like what it presently is than it presently is?

Now, extra features, more optimized code, refinements of the UI that continue to take it in the same direction it's going right now... that's stuff I'd like to see.

[Regenweald]

Enlightenment! :)

[Mazza558]

Gnome is great at the moment. Sure, a little dated, but it's currently the more polished of the two. Gnome 3? Doomed. Even if the current iteration of gnome-shell becomes bug-free, the design decisions are simply awful. Who on earth wants to go through a full-screen menu to open a program, other than netbook users? And who wants to have this annoying bar on the left which prevents windows from taking up the entire space between panels? I hope it gets a big overhaul (which is possible as the project is in an early stage).

KDE on the other hand? Quite possibly the future. However, despite 4.3 being impressive, it's still lacking in support for gtk-based apps, and the polish isn't there yet.

And about the compiz vs gnome debate? KDE can ignore it and carry on with KWin, which is approaching the same feature-set as compiz fusion now.

[jrusso2]

KDE 4 is much nice looking IMO.

[ugriffin]

KDE. It lets me do what I need to do, and does it right. Maybe it is because I started out with KDE, but I find KDE 10x more customisable, attractive, and awesome than GNOME. I still can't find a way to get the desktop cube work in GNOME. Dolphin's come a long way, and I dare say that it's better than Konqueror now. What is the real problem is that kubuntu is not as supported as Ubuntu, and therefore apps like firefox don't work into perfection. But, KDE looks better, and *ahem* has real desktop apps (widgets), that really work.


KDE4 might be a little bit feature lacking, but it's the future, along with Kubuntu. People will begin choosing it because it looks better and it offers a friendlier approach to Windows users (I'm aware of this irony, GNOME is definitely more intuitive). So yeah, go KDE!

BTW, adding KPackagekit in Jaunty was murder. Adept is better. And Konqueror MUST be replaced with Firefox.

[Mazza558]

KDE. It lets me do what I need to do, and does it right. Maybe it is because I started out with KDE, but I find KDE 10x more customisable, attractive, and awesome than GNOME. I still can't find a way to get the desktop cube work in GNOME. Dolphin's come a long way, and I dare say that it's better than Konqueror now. What is the real problem is that kubuntu is not as supported as Ubuntu, and therefore apps like firefox don't work into perfection. But, KDE looks better, and *ahem* has real desktop apps (widgets), that really work.


KDE4 might be a little bit feature lacking, but it's the future, along with Kubuntu. People will begin choosing it because it looks better and it offers a friendlier approach to Windows users (I'm aware of this irony, GNOME is definitely more intuitive). So yeah, go KDE!

BTW, adding KPackagekit in Jaunty was murder. Adept is better. And Konqueror MUST be replaced with Firefox.

Yeah, decisions like this are what people (rightly) complain about when they try KDE or install Kubuntu rather than vanilla Ubuntu.

[Tibuda]

http://onemoreoption.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/7-yoda-removes-xwing-2.jpg
"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

[Mazza558]

We need a KDE version of GNOME-do. That'd be awesome

The current iteration doesn't play well with KWin, and alternatives like Krunner just can't compete.

[CJ Master]

KDE. It lets me do what I need to do, and does it right. Maybe it is because I started out with KDE, but I find KDE 10x more customisable, attractive, and awesome than GNOME. I still can't find a way to get the desktop cube work in GNOME. Dolphin's come a long way, and I dare say that it's better than Konqueror now. What is the real problem is that kubuntu is not as supported as Ubuntu, and therefore apps like firefox don't work into perfection. But, KDE looks better, and *ahem* has real desktop apps (widgets), that really work.


KDE4 might be a little bit feature lacking, but it's the future, along with Kubuntu. People will begin choosing it because it looks better and it offers a friendlier approach to Windows users (I'm aware of this irony, GNOME is definitely more intuitive). So yeah, go KDE!

BTW, adding KPackagekit in Jaunty was murder. Adept is better. And Konqueror MUST be replaced with Firefox.

Kubuntu's implimation is just downright awefull and buggy in my opinion. The two most popular seem to be Madrivia KDE and Arch+KDEmod, both of which are very nice.

http://onemoreoption.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/7-yoda-removes-xwing-2.jpg
"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

You, sir, win the thread.

[spoons]

I'd like to see Gnome build in a compositing manager of it's own, speed up, lighten up on RAM and keep on the path it's going. it's much better for netbooks than KDE, as it uses less screen space.

[Luke has no name]

ugriffin: To get the desktop cube working in Ubuntu, install compizconfig-settings-manager or something like that. Then you can have all the advanced settings that Compiz has that the Ubuntu team thinks normal people can't handle [apparently].

I like Gnome a lot better than KDE. I have tried more than once to like KDE, but Gnome is simpler, I like the two bar solution, and it doesn't try so hard to make everything coherent at the expense of flexibility.

[lykwydchykyn]

KDE has loads of potential, but Kubuntu surely doesn't explore much of it. If your impression of KDE comes from Kubuntu, please don't judge it yet. QT is an incredibly slick and robust toolkit compared to GTK, and corporate backing doesn't hurt either.

I hope they both continue to develop and thrive, because in doing so they only enrich FOSS and one another. Look at what's going on with XFCE, LXDE and enlightenment as well. Things are pushing forward quickly and I'm excited to see what's developing.
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-2237807.php
As for who is going to "lead" --

IMHO, Linux is only going to "take off" by being pre-installed on consumer computing devices, a-la netbooks. When someone finally packages together the right combination of software and hardware at the right price, it's going to change everything for Linux. Maybe it'll be ARM netbooks running Android, maybe low-power computing devices running Moblin, who knows? But whatever desktop environment gets chosen for that will be taking the lead.

I mean the eeePC used icewm. Who would have seen icewm as a DE leader?

[knavarathna92]

1. google backs GNOME
2. google will rule the world eventually.

therefore, GNOME is the future.
q.e.d.

[XubuRoxMySox]

I have to admit, I've never even tried KDE because I read in several reviews that integration is an issue in that environment, so it's "better"(?) to use the Kapplications that kome with KDE. Konqueror, K-mail, K-word, K-mart, K-serah serah.

It just sounded too much like "AOL for Linux" to me, and I prefer to choose my own applications and not worry about "integration" whatever that means.

On older hardware, though, I like the ultra-light and very simple LXDE (http://lxde.org) environment though. I haven't tried Xfce either because if you're gonna go lightweight, then go the lightest weight there is (other than no desktop environment at all, like Crunchbang Linux, which is awesome on older hardware).

-Robin

[WinterMadness]

KDE will dominate, again.

Why? because its taking risks, and these risks just so happen to be very good ones that i think were very calculated. KDE 4.2 is the only linux desktop that looks modern(in fact, i think its the best looking DE period, including windows and mac), gnome looks very primitive. if you have a ton of programs, its often hard to find what your looking for in the menus. KDE organized things more efficiently.

Also, KDE is easier. Im often shocked bythe fact that people take the time to learn linux (often on gome) and dont want to take the time to understand KDE. With KDE, you can change your icon theme with a click of the mouse, no terminal needed. Want a new theme for your panel/windows? right click>panel settings and you can not only change the theme like you would imagine, but you can download new ones straight from there. These are just some examples.

Gnome 3 might be kind of nice looking, but I dont like it as much as KDE. I also dont like the menu system still. Ill download it, i dont mind using gnome at all, but it wont be my main.

[lykwydchykyn]

I have to admit, I've never even tried KDE because I read in several reviews that integration is an issue in that environment, so it's "better"(?) to use the Kapplications that kome with KDE. Konqueror, K-mail, K-word, K-mart, K-serah serah.


That's unfortunate, because you're missing out on some pretty cool software for some pretty petty reasons. I remember when Ubuntu came out, I was the same way about it because I was using (Debian-based) MEPIS and Debian at the time and in those circles Ubuntu was "evil". Then I finally gave it a try and it turns out it wasn't so bad. Now all my systems but one are running Kubuntu. Crazy, huh?

Don't base your opinions on "reviews" -- too many bloggers and journos out there have an axe to grind. It's free software, download it and make an informed opinion.

[dspari1]

I'm a KDE person and believe in it, but I think both are the future and neither will go away.

Gnome is for people that want something simple and plain works, and KDE is for people that want full customization and like tweaking.

[DemonBob]

I use Gnome because i get stuff done faster. It's two bar solution is a good idea, whereas, the first time i used KDE, and everytime thier after it was a chore just to find something in the menu. Why do they need so many freaking submenu's? Atleast with KDE3. Haven't tried KDE4 yet.

[racerraul]

Enlightenment! :)

+ eleventybillion !!!111!!!!uno!!!111

[anarchyinc]

Everyone always forgets about the little illegitimate stepchild Xfce. Gnome is overweight, and KDE is unstable and buggy.

enlightenment is very nice, once configured.

[SomeGuyDude]

GNOME has a lot going for it for one big ol' reason: the GTK toolkit.

Given that DE's tend to aim for homogeny, while KDE users get things like Konqueror, Koffice, Kopete and the like, GNOME comes with Firefox, OpenOffice, Pidgin, GIMP, etc.

Frankly, I'd like to see the GNOME/KDE war dissolve because it's farking up my beloved PCManFM thanks to GNOME's growing supremacy, but there you have it.

[TheNosh]

enlightenment is looking pretty good, if gnome 3 goes where it looks like it will i'm going to enlightenment, not kde.

[CJ Master]

Speaking of Gnome 3, is there a way to beta test it yet?

[TheNosh]

Speaking of Gnome 3, is there a way to beta test it yet?

i know it's doable, but i haven't looked into how to go about it. i don't really expect 3.0 to be good. maybe it will get better from there though

[don_quixote]

Probably KDE (and XFCE is likely to gain a much bigger user share) considering the proposed GNOME shell debacle.

[DemonBob]

Speaking of Gnome 3, is there a way to beta test it yet?

http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell

[zero777zero]

I'm a KDE person and believe in it, but I think both are the future and neither will go away.

i wasnt suggesting one would go away, but i think that linux domination will come sooner than expected as more software is going cross-platform, linux is becoming more user friendly, linux foundation is helping to standardize the desktop (too late perhaps?) and adoption continues to rise in the mobile market (Android will prevail!).

i think some kind of standardization is necessary because the facts are that effort is being greatly divided. i wouldnt want to take effort away from any project, but i think as linux adoption continues to grow it would be helpful if one D.E. became defacto for noobs/non1337.

All signs point to successful linux software becoming easier and less fragmented for consumer adoption.

[Sublime Porte]

I peronally think KDE/QT has got a bigger future at the moment. The Qt toolkit is much richer than Gtk, and is also based on c++ instead of c. The KDE desktop is a lot better integrated and standardised, which I guess some don't see as a plus. For the moment however I'm using gnome, because I find KDE4 too buggy, but I think it's almost ready for actual human consumption.

so it's "better"(?) to use the Kapplications that kome with KDE. Konqueror, K-mail, K-word, K-mart, K-serah serah.

There's also quite a few applications that begin with 'g', so what? Those applications are well suited for KDE, but it's not necessary to use them.

GNOME has a lot going for it for one big ol' reason: the GTK toolkit.

Qt is much more feature rich than Gtk.

It's two bar solution is a good idea

I'm not sure about KDE4, but KDE3 certainly allowed two bars to be used. This has gotta be the lamest attempt to dig up a gripe I've come across.

[WatchingThePain]

Does my Gnome Desktop look so ugly?

[ad_267]

I peronally think KDE/QT has got a bigger future at the moment. The Qt toolkit is much richer than Gtk, and is also based on c++ instead of c. The KDE desktop is a lot better integrated and standardised, which I guess some don't see as a plus. For the moment however I'm using gnome, because I find KDE4 too buggy, but I think it's almost ready for actual human consumption.

I agree with a lot of this. I've been using Gnome since I started with Linux, but have just started testing KDE 4.3 on Kubuntu 9.10. I really like the direction KDE is headed. Dolphin is a great file manager, and the integrated nature of the desktop is good, with a common help and configuration system. A lot of the applications are feature rich, but everything still feels a little bit buggy and not quite complete. I know this is a beta release but I feel the same using stable releases of KDE 4.2. If KDE could focus on bug fixes and smoothing everything out for a while, KDE 4.3 could be really great.

Edit: One thing I can't get used to is Amarok though, and Juk isn't quite complete enough. Had to install Rhythmbox. Banshee is also pretty good.

[Sublime Porte]

Dolphin is a great file manager

File management is something KDE has always been far ahead in. Even Konqueror used to be an excellent file manager, before dolphin came along. It had tabbed file management and could handle almost every single protocol you could think of, long before nautilus was even remotely useful as a file manager.

[automaton26]

KDE, because ultimately it will attract the majority of existing Windows users who want a similar look-and-feel.

I want the benefits of Linux (security/freedom/value), but with minimal changes to the desktop experience, especially if swapping between the two at work and home, on a daily basis.

I suppose you can't teach an old dog new tricks !

And I agree about Amarok & Dolphin - they are better than they were, but are still not quite there yet. Hopefully the next LTS should be a tipping-point for Kubuntu solidity.

[Tibuda]

Qt is much more feature rich than Gtk.
He's talking about the applications, not the toolkits. And less == better for many people. Whatever.

[SunnyRabbiera]

KDE4 can be the future, but right now Gnome should remain the stadard until KDE4 comes out of its experimental phase.

[Sublime Porte]

He's talking about the applications, not the toolkits.

That's funny, because I thought the word toolkit meant toolkit, not applications.. my mistake.

GNOME has a lot going for it for one big ol' reason: the GTK toolkit.

[MasterNetra]

DOS 10.0 is the future! Get it straight! :p

Anywho tried KDE 4.2 a bit back, felt more restricted when it came to themeing and there was no GUI based thing in control center or anywhere for the touchpad, I rememeber once having to create a startup script for something I installed to control to keep re-appling the settings for the touchpad, as it reverts to default after you logout of the session or restart the computer.
There where also a number random graphical glitches (which most of the time where harmless but annoying). Idk, gnome just seems the more stable to me and I'll take the more stable over the prettier one any day.

[Tibuda]

That's funny, because I thought the word toolkit meant toolkit, not applications.. my mistake.
Let's read the whole post again:
GNOME has a lot going for it for one big ol' reason: the GTK toolkit.

Given that DE's tend to aim for homogeny, while KDE users get things like Konqueror, Koffice, Kopete and the like, GNOME comes with Firefox, OpenOffice, Pidgin, GIMP, etc.

Frankly, I'd like to see the GNOME/KDE war dissolve because it's farking up my beloved PCManFM thanks to GNOME's growing supremacy, but there you have it.
Off-topic note: Firefox and OpenOffice do not use Gtk+, but they pretend to use it very well.




Idk, gnome just seems the more stable to me and I'll take the more stable over the prettier one any day.
And if you can get the stable to look prettier, what would you choose?

[open_coder]

I agree with a lot of this. I've been using Gnome since I started with Linux, but have just started testing KDE 4.3 on Kubuntu 9.10. I really like the direction KDE is headed. Dolphin is a great file manager, and the integrated nature of the desktop is good, with a common help and configuration system. A lot of the applications are feature rich, but everything still feels a little bit buggy and not quite complete. I know this is a beta release but I feel the same using stable releases of KDE 4.2. If KDE could focus on bug fixes and smoothing everything out for a while, KDE 4.3 could be really great.

Edit: One thing I can't get used to is Amarok though, and Juk isn't quite complete enough. Had to install Rhythmbox. Banshee is also pretty good.

Dude, Amarok 2 has been pissing me off lately. I am using Banshee right now. Amarok was so bad that I am starting a project for downloading podcasts, b/c Amarok sucks so bad at it.

And I am a huge KDE fanboy and not afraid to admit it.

[don_quixote]

And if you can get the stable to look prettier, what would you choose?

I would choose something that strikes a good balance between being stable, pretty, and modular. Right now, that for me means GNOME, but that'll likely change.

[SLEEPER_V]

as a noob, i prefer kde. It feels smoother. I ditched amarok, it sucked imo. I'm going through alot of the distros right now. I've tried straight ubuntu jaunty, linux mint, crunchbang, edubuntu, kubuntu, and I am downloading mandriva and xubuntu right now to try. I love linux so far. I'm trying to find my perfect mix of customization, aesthetics, intuitiveness, and stability. So far KDE is in the lead.

[Tipped OuT]

K-Mart


:lolflag: That one cracked me up!

[Pasdar]

GNOME 3.0

Imagine working on your computer the whole day and every time you want to open your program you have to go through the following process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieEE664_-fw

The looks are just the same as now, the panel is the same, the only thing new about it is a weird menu opening on the left:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9pmbAo6T-A

Notice that the applications open as slow as they currently do. Many hours of work will go into this and all we'll get for it is a menu on the left, no speed enhancement, no change in design, no everything is the same, just a menu on the left:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRL-Qtefy68

Notice that the panel and the wallpaper/desktop look as if they're on different planes/levels/layers (call it what you want):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u737Xwsygck


KDE 4.3

No compare that to the awesome KDE 4.3:

Changing workspaces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS2t5lvRodI

Window highlighting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqviTYwJa1E

New plasmoids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFkTESHN9ZE

Systray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWBfwloevgc

Folder preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYnhx2juk-U

Logging out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSHtIqcvpYY

KDE is the future and GNOME is the past.

[Gen2ly]

Have to vote KDE myself. KDE took an aging UI and toolkit and refined it. Still experimental, but coming along. Developing apps in KDE now is going to take considerable less time than GNOME now. That said, more people still develop for Gnome and developing a GUI is considerably easier in GNOME than KDE so it just looks better (expect for built-in desktop effects in KDE). I think that once popular apps get fully-supported in KDE (Amarok, Networkmanager, a browser...) GNOME is going to have a lot of catching up to do, though this will take some time.

[praveesh]

I'm not sure about KDE4, but KDE3 certainly allowed two bars to be used. This has gotta be the lamest attempt to dig up a gripe I've come across.
It is possible to have 2 or 3 or 4 or any number of panels in KDE . It is the most customisable DE ever created . In my opinion KDE will be the future . No one coming from windows will use Gnome which they will find looking similar to windows 95 . But still now KDE is not useable because of bugs .

[Pasdar]

You can have as many panels as you want in KDE 4. The Panel is fully customizable and looks better than the Panel in GNOME.

[Sublime Porte]

I just played around with KDE4 panels on the livecd of jaunty, yes it does allow dual panels, however I disagree it is fully customisable. It is not yet as functional/customisable as the KDE3 panel which I remember. There's still quite a few features that haven't been re-implemented (perhaps they're not going to be?).

It does have a nice feature which I love though, stay on top of Windows. Gnome panel cannot do this, and it's quite annoying on a netbook where you're quite short of space.

Also I couldn't get KDE4 panel to take up only part of the screen instead of stretching out across the entire width of the screen. Is this possible? From memory it was in KDE3.

[Pasdar]

I just played around with KDE4 panels on the livecd of jaunty, yes it does allow dual panels, however I disagree it is fully customisable. It is not yet as functional/customisable as the KDE3 panel which I remember. There's still quite a few features that haven't been re-implemented (perhaps they're not going to be?).

It does have a nice feature which I love though, stay on top of Windows. Gnome panel cannot do this, and it's quite annoying on a netbook where you're quite short of space.

Also I couldn't get KDE4 panel to take up only part of the screen instead of stretching out across the entire width of the screen. Is this possible? From memory it was in KDE3.

I'm not on KDE at the moment so I can't check how the horizontal size changes, if I remember correctly you click pull the side, you can also do that with vertical size. It can also be changed manually in the configuration file.

It's fully customizable. How do you think all those panel themes work? Certain advanced things can just not be changed 'easilly'. You can change references in the conf file or simply replace existing image files to change what the panel looks like. For example, changing the KDE logo in the lower left corner with an Ubuntu logo or whatever.

Kubuntu really does an awful job at KDE. It seems like they simply added it to Ubuntu and that's it. They don't even change the corner logo or anything at all. Also it boots slower than KDE on OpenSUSE. Still though, Kubuntu is much better than Ubuntu. Just don't install KDE via apt-get, if you do that, it's not as good... or you can spend time removing everything Ubuntu.

[zurack]

You can have as many panels as you want in KDE 4. The Panel is fully customizable and looks better than the Panel in GNOME.


Kde3 and Gnome use RGB visuals, kde4 uses ARGB (Alpha channel visuals) which is possibly what makes superior transparencies and hence why it takes time to port from Qt3.

[Firestem4]

Also I couldn't get KDE4 panel to take up only part of the screen instead of stretching out across the entire width of the screen. Is this possible? From memory it was in KDE3.
On the desktop, Unlock Widgets; so you can modify the panel. Click on the little Acorn or whatever its called on the Panel. (should be on the right end of the panel).

WHen you click on that there should be an extra bar that comes up with settings and below that there are sliders. You can drag those sliders to resize the panel. And if you want to make it thicker or thinner there is a Height button you can drag.

[deepclutch]

without seeing what Gnome guys are going to come out(Gnome 3.0?) ,It is tough to decide.anyways ,Gnome for me.No bells and whistles ,but simply works for me and many others.
Gnome users and kde fans.

[zurack]

Gnome users and kde fans.

Sigh, the bitterness ;)

[3startuna]

I think it comes down to personal choice.

I prefer Gnome.

plus with alt+f2 I never use the "k" button or applications etc to launch apps.

KDE is getting too GUI dependent

[starcannon]

I chose something else, because I think the actual answer is Both.

[Pasdar]

I think it comes down to personal choice.

I prefer Gnome.

plus with alt+f2 I never use the "k" button or applications etc to launch apps.

KDE is getting too GUI dependent

It's funny, people like you say such and such thing is not possible in KDE, this and it shows to a KDE user they have never tried KDE. Yet when asked they always say they've tried and hated it.

What follows is a screenshot of my desktop in KDE. I added a panel in the top right corner to show that you can make a panel, I resized it to show that you can resize it, and I did ALT+F2 so you see that the executor looks a billion times nicer than in GNOME. I changed the "K" menu icon to an Ubuntu one. The Panel is actually fully customizeable and can be made to mimic the GNOME on if you want. This all can be done very quickly. KDE is not becoming dependent on anything, it's just a significantly more advanced DE. The difference in responsiveness between KDE and GNOME is VERY noticeable.

[3startuna]

My Gnome:
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7655/screenshoterq.png

My KDE:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1530/kde.jpg

So yeah I do use both.

Flat out dont like KDE as much as gnome.

And I never said Alt+f2 isnt possible in KDE i have done it before.

I just dont like it its too gui dependent. Plus it has other features that just annoy me.

thats why I said at the end of the day it will go down to personal preference Gnome just works for me so thats what I use

[billgoldberg]

hi, i'm not a developer and i don't know much about this subject, but i'm wondering which desktop environment will take the lead in the next 5-10 years.

Both desktop enviroments have their "market" and who knows what it will be like in 10 years?

Both projects could be dead and replaced by others.

[billgoldberg]

My Gnome:
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7655/screenshoterq.png


Flat out dont like KDE as much as gnome.

And I never said Alt+f2 isnt possible in KDE i have done it before.

I just dont like it its too gui dependent. Plus it has other features that just annoy me.

thats why I said at the end of the day it will go down to personal preference Gnome just works for me so thats what I use

I dislike the kde 3.x versions and kde 4.0.

Ever since KDE4.1 it is pretty fun to use, when it isn't crashing.

It crashed on Arch all the time.

Just for kicks I installed kde-core yesterday on Ubuntu 9.04 and in 10 minutes it crashed 3 times.

[Pasdar]

KDE 4.2.3 hasn't crashed on me in 3 days of intensive use. The last version I tried before this was KDE 4.2.2, and that one crashed only when I right clicked on the 'folder view' widget.

I find 4.2.3 to be stable, meaning you can't make it crash by doing normal day to day things.

However, I'm willing to live with whatever bugs in KDE because the slowness of GNOME really pisses me off sometimes. GNOME also has some bugs that annoy me... for example, when copy/pasting something to a folder it doesn't auto refresh for me to see the folder, have to press F5... or even worse, if you put a lot of pictures in one folder, you can not see it in konqueror. The only way to see your pictures is through terminal.

The things I have to deal with in KDE seem to be minimal, for example, it has happened a few times that I see a thin see through window lining stay on the desktop. However, it disapears when another program opens or is opened ontop of it.

[3startuna]

I dislike the kde 3.x versions and kde 4.0.

Ever since KDE4.1 it is pretty fun to use, when it isn't crashing.

It crashed on Arch all the time.

Just for kicks I installed kde-core yesterday on Ubuntu 9.04 and in 10 minutes it crashed 3 times.
Thats what happens when Linux catches Windows envy.

lol

I wouldnt say KDE sucks but it still needs some work.

Also I dont think future distributions should choose one path and go that route cold turkey.

Linux is all about choices, so why not have both?

Not everyone will like KDE and not everyone will like Gnome. Keeping both with the option to choose like we currently have is by far the better route.

[monsterstack]

I love the customization options in KDE, but it runs rather clunkily on my machine. A little bit too whizz-bang maybe, but Compiz performs well. I never really bother using menus all that much. All I need is a taskbar, Launchy, and Tilda. XFCE is probably more suited to my needs, but I prefer the Gnome Panel. But then again I could just run an XFCE session with the Gnome panel instead of the XFCE one. Hrmm. I've just decided that's exactly what I'm going to do. I always was rather keen on Thunarr. This KDE vs Gnome thread has opened my eyes. Thanks a lot guys. XFCE 4 LIFE!

[Tibuda]

I chose something else, because I think the actual answer is Both.

That's the only good answer to the original post.

[TheLastDodo]

Both desktop enviroments have their "market" and who knows what it will be like in 10 years?

Both projects could be dead and replaced by others.

I expect them both to still be around, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Android and it's accompanying UI as one of the dominant Linux interfaces in ten years' time. Google seems to finally gotten off its *** and decided to push Android in the mobile market. That, along with the coming wave of ARM-based netbooks, means we'll be seeing quite a few Android-based devices by year's end. If it manages to catch on in the netbook market, there's no reason that a later iteration might not end up competing with Microsoft for the desktop, especially given Google's animosity towards the guys from Redmond. It's no sure thing, but I'd say it's certainly an interesting possibility.

[H2SO_four]

As long as my computer is stable and looks appealing, I am happy with it. I wouldn't imagine either going away.

[deepclutch]

Here is a news:
The Future Of Gnome DE Looks Promising
http://www.geektechnica.com/2009/05/the-future-of-gnome-de-looks-promising/

[zurack]

:D I prefer both to Windows and even my Imac24inch (most of the time) yet in all respect Gnome/GTk feels like a mac wannabe that's been put together with paper and scissors, Out of the two kde looks and feels professional quality that one would pay brass for it.

[zurack]

Here is a news:
The Future Of Gnome DE Looks Promising
http://www.geektechnica.com/2009/05/the-future-of-gnome-de-looks-promising/


In all truth brainstorms hold little weight in these types of banter.