Xubuntu and its Gnome-like XFCE

[Keyper7]

I just installed Xubuntu on a low-end machine in my college lab. I never installed Xubuntu before so I was a little bit surprised to see that the Xubuntu devs tweaked XFCE to make it look like Ubuntu's Gnome. "What the..." was my first reaction, but then I realised it makes sense: if Xubuntu is known as a lightweight Ubuntu, then it's not a bad idea to follow the "principle of least surprise". But how does this leave all users who download Xubuntu because they simply prefer XFCE over Gnome?

[Mohamedzv2]

Well it is Ubuntu, and as such I think it should look like normal Ubuntu with the specialties of XFCE.

But that's just my opinion.

[Sand & Mercury]

Xubuntu would be nicer, I think, if it gave more focus to setting itself apart from the GNOME version and playing XFCE's strengths (simple, lightweight and functional). It's a quite heavy implementation of XFCE at the moment, which I found a little surprising.

[Bruce M.]

I didn't vote because I agree with both of the choices.

Xubuntu is lighter than Ubuntu. No Metacity, Nautilus, Evolution or OO for starters.

XFCE is the desktop manger but there is still GNOME here. It is faster lighter but not compared to some other distros.

I put Xubuntu on my old P-III when newer versions Ubuntu started to be too slow for it. I've upgraded my PC since then but stayed with Xfce because I like the speed.

I am going to be trying some other Xfce distros in the near future that they say are lighter and faster than Xubuntu. Time will tell, I think Xubuntu will stay my "stable" distro for a while though. I'm comfortable with it and have in the last year and a half learned enough that I'm not so dangerous to myself anymore. :)

Have a nice day-
Bruce

[RiceMonster]

Hard to say. The second option is what appeals to me, but maybe the goal of Xubuntu is just to be a lightweight Ubuntu. If that's the case, then someone who wants an "Xfce-like" distro should probably use something else. That said, I'll vote for the second option because that's the way I think it should be. I don't like Xubuntu because it's too GNOME like.