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SunnyRabbiera
March 20th, 2009, 11:45 PM
When you hear of people wanting Ubuntu and other linux distro's to look like windows dont you get as annoyed as I do?
Dont you feel that Gnome/KDE/XFCE not that hard to get?
There is a difference between wanting your interface to be familiar, and just downright wanting it to look exactly like another OS.
I never had an issue with transition, for me Gnome/KDE/XFCE was just as easy as XP to get into.
Gnomes 2 panel interface might be confusing for some granted but I never had an issue with it, I mean main menu on top and taskbar on the bottom... wow isnt that hard
KDE3 is easy enough for a windows user I think, Menu is right there where the windows window would be.
KDE4 also easy, I mean granted I am not a big fan of the kickoff menu but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out.
XFCE, also easy to use. Granted XFCE can be a little rough for the new user but its not that hard.
For me its harder to use OSX then Linux when concerning the layout and interface, I think linux's interfaces are actually easier in most respects then windows too.
The windows menu is so disorganized to me, I cant even use it!
Linux menu's put things into categories that are simple enough to understand...
For me the transition wasnt that hard, how about you?

Onoskelis
March 20th, 2009, 11:49 PM
KDE is a lot more user friendly and functional for people who came from Windows.

Most people, including myself, just can't get over the fact of how ugly Gnome is. It's like using an OS from 1998.

dragos240
March 20th, 2009, 11:53 PM
i like gnome :)

SunnyRabbiera
March 20th, 2009, 11:55 PM
KDE is a lot more user friendly and functional for people who came from Windows.

Most people, including myself, just can't get over the fact of how ugly Gnome is. It's like using an OS from 1998.

It depends on how you set up Gnome, I mean yes I can understand that Gnome isnt that appealing for some but once you get it set up right it can look as good or better then most other OS's.
Heck I think Ubuntu's default look is more appealing then XP's

days_of_ruin
March 21st, 2009, 12:07 AM
It depends on how you set up Gnome, I mean yes I can understand that Gnome isnt that appealing for some but once you get it set up right it can look as good or better then most other OS's.
Heck I think Ubuntu's default look is more appealing then XP's

+1. But people think its hip to constantly let everyone know that they
think ubuntu and or gnome is ugly.

Ubuntu's menu is 100x better than windows.
In Windows most programs are categorized by company instead of what they actually do.Thats just ***.

bakedbeans4life
March 21st, 2009, 12:08 AM
The problem is not Linux, *BSD or any Unix like operating system. Or any of the desktops they include.

The problem is that most people do not want to unlearn Windows. People judge Linux from a Windows perspective.

bryonak
March 21st, 2009, 12:08 AM
I find Gnome better looking than KDE3.
KDE4 is another matter of course...


KDE is a lot more user friendly and functional for people who came from Windows.

Most people, including myself, just can't get over the fact of how ugly Gnome is. It's like using an OS from 1998.

Most people? Interesting...
Most people I know who switched from WinXP to Ubuntu and have tried both Gnome and KDE (3... not much experience with 4 yet) prefer Gnome because it's cleaner looking (HIG shows here).
But that's just most people I know, not most people in general ;P


On topic: it depends.
My mother for example get's irritated if I switch the order of the quick launchers on her PC... such a thing as moving the panel to another place or even two panels would be unacceptable. She runs Gnome with 1 bottom panel atm ;)
Then there's people who find their way easily through any desktop approach but want to demonstrate the power of a certain WM/DE... so they make Gnome look exactly like OSX or WinXP just for the fun of it.

I think those "make it look exactly like ..." efforts actually have merit, it's just not for everyone.

MasterNetra
March 21st, 2009, 12:24 AM
KDE is a lot more user friendly and functional for people who came from Windows.

Most people, including myself, just can't get over the fact of how ugly Gnome is. It's like using an OS from 1998.

Functional? Have you even used both? KDE maybe prettier but gnome holds the trophy for functionality. Both though would take a normal windows user some time to get used to. Heck after using one a while it takes a bit to get used to the other. (Unless you interchange on a daily bases).

cardinals_fan
March 21st, 2009, 12:25 AM
Functional? Have you even used both? KDE maybe prettier but gnome holds the trophy for functionality. Both though would take a normal windows user some time to get used to. Heck after using one a while it takes a bit to get used to the other. (Unless you interchange on a daily bases).
Functionality is, like looks, totally dependent on the individual.

yse
March 21st, 2009, 12:28 AM
That topic is amusing me...

Is all that you do with the computer? Studding the menus or playing with them?

If you don't like KDE/Gnome/Windows/OSX just use the desktop shortcuts for what you need. Problem solved.

SunnyRabbiera
March 21st, 2009, 12:31 AM
Functional? Have you even used both? KDE maybe prettier but gnome holds the trophy for functionality. Both though would take a normal windows user some time to get used to. Heck after using one a while it takes a bit to get used to the other. (Unless you interchange on a daily bases).

Well it depends on the windows user, I have seen it myself.
My husband long time windows user (10+ years from Windows 3.1, 95 to Vista) never had too much issue with Ubuntu, nor the other distros I threw at him.
I mean yes he got a little thrown off by the menu layout but it only took him a few minutes to figure it out with little help from me.

swoll1980
March 21st, 2009, 12:47 AM
I don't understand how either could be hard to learn. They're DEs for crying about loud, not OSs

SunnyRabbiera
March 21st, 2009, 12:52 AM
I don't understand how either could be hard to learn. They're DEs for crying about loud, not OSs

But for most users you cant distinguish between the two, thats because in windows everything is tied together under one roof.
The average user doesnt know what a DE is, or what GUI even means.
They just know they get to apps by clicking the button on the bottom or on the screen.
But still even for a user like this might be able to grasp a Linux DE easily, my husband is sort of proof of that.

Skripka
March 21st, 2009, 12:57 AM
But for most users you cant distinguish between the two, thats because in windows everything is tied together under one roof.
The average user doesnt know what a DE is, or what GUI even means.
They just know they get to apps by clicking the button on the bottom or on the screen.
But still even for a user like this might be able to grasp a Linux DE easily, my husband is sort of proof of that.

How easy folks DE/GUI hop-is dependent on how their brain works. Some folks sit down and quickly figure things out...some folks get completely thrown for a loop, and don't know how to react/cop when they face an entirely different GUI.

But, yes-99% of the population outside of linux users do not under stand that a GUI and the OS can and are independent things, or at least can be.

swoll1980
March 21st, 2009, 01:11 AM
But still even for a user like this might be able to grasp a Linux DE easily, my husband is sort of proof of that.

That's what I'm saying both Gnome, and KDE are very intuitive. Even if you don't know what a DE is they're pretty self explanatory for the most part.

RiceMonster
March 21st, 2009, 01:14 AM
That topic is amusing me...

Is all that you do with the computer? Studding the menus or playing with them?

If you don't like KDE/Gnome/Windows/OSX just use the desktop shortcuts for what you need. Problem solved.

Some of us don't like desktop icons. Unless you mean keyboard shortcuts? Still, there isn't a keyboard shortcut for everything, so I don't see what the issue is with not liking a particular menu or changing it.

chucky chuckaluck
March 21st, 2009, 01:15 AM
but gnome holds the trophy for functionality.

a trophy, no doubt, his father had made.

cardinals_fan
March 21st, 2009, 01:19 AM
Still, there isn't a keyboard shortcut for everything, so I don't see what the issue is with not liking a particular menu or changing it.
I beg to differ. Use xbindkeys and dmenu :)

RiceMonster
March 21st, 2009, 01:24 AM
I beg to differ. Use xbindkeys and dmenu :)

Yes I know dmenu, I don't really count it as a keyboard shortcut, it's more a way of launching apps. I'd rather gmrun anyway, because it's got better tab completion than dmenu IMO.

What does xbingkeys do? Make keyboard shortcuts? I doubt I need it since I have tons of custom shortcuts in Xfce as it is.

cardinals_fan
March 21st, 2009, 01:49 AM
What does xbingkeys do? Make keyboard shortcuts? I doubt I need it since I have tons of custom shortcuts in Xfce as it is.
Pretty much. You don't necessarily need it in Xfce, but I find it a great addition to my evilwm setup.

SunnyRabbiera
March 21st, 2009, 01:54 AM
Well if Gnome/KDE/XFCE were more like evilwm/UDE/windowmaker I can see where newbies would get stuck.
Terminal driven WM's are definitely not user friendly for the average windows user.

der_joachim
March 21st, 2009, 07:14 PM
Heck I think Ubuntu's default look is more appealing then XP's

+1. Whoever designed XP's default look, probably intentionally offended the XP user's intelligence with its Fischer Price interface. I am not a Gnome fan, but the default Ubuntu desktop looks and feels very polished.

adamlau
March 21st, 2009, 08:29 PM
Outside of a minimal WM, none of my users have complained about DE difficulties. Not even the most fervent fans of Windows. Only the CLI intimidates them.

ArtF10
March 21st, 2009, 10:14 PM
When you hear of people wanting Ubuntu and other linux distro's to look like windows dont you get as annoyed as I do?
Dont you feel that Gnome/KDE/XFCE not that hard to get?...
For me the transition wasnt that hard, how about you?

Yes.
Yes!
It wasn't that hard!!!

Reason for people's problems: ww.fear.com

cmay
March 22nd, 2009, 12:31 AM
The windows menu is so disorganized to me, I cant even use it!
Linux menu's put things into categories that are simple enough to understand...
For me the transition wasnt that hard, how about you?
i was actually very happy with windows ME so when i was forced to switch to windows XP i did not like the that new XP look. i used it for about six month or tried to anyway.

then when i decided i was going to switch to linux i found mandriva using kde to be very very hard to understand. i used to make it look as much as winME as possible to able to find myway around it but one day i found debian sarge and gnome. i did not change any of the settings or even the wall paper and i could just use it as it was wiht out any problem. so to me gnome is much more me than any other desktop environment even that i now after using gnome for a long time has open my self up to using other things like lxde and open box. which i can configure as i please and makes me just as happy as gnome most of the time.

i like kde on belenix which is a open-solaris derivative and some distributions i have tried on livecd gets away with using kde in a way where i really do not have any problems using it anymore.

Dekkon
March 22nd, 2009, 02:10 AM
But for most users you cant distinguish between the two, thats because in windows everything is tied together under one roof.
The average user doesnt know what a DE is, or what GUI even means.
They just know they get to apps by clicking the button on the bottom or on the screen.
But still even for a user like this might be able to grasp a Linux DE easily, my husband is sort of proof of that.

Let alone, doesn't want to know, the Linux community doesn't think about that when it comes to average users.

sheshdd
March 22nd, 2009, 03:22 AM
gnome is great,can't say much about KDE or XFCE,haven't used those really.What i like about gnome is the simple clear looks and everything seems to be so very accesible.Thumbs up.When i was using winxp i used BlackBox for the desktop,wich was also pretty simple.

victor7
March 22nd, 2009, 03:39 AM
ummm... being an old rocket scientist, and a ms user for many years, and just now checking out linux, it seems like i'm really to stupid to understand why linux is superior to ms; just like i have trouble understanding why islam is superior to catholicism, etc. i believe i'll continue to go with what works with me, and look for people to associate with that arte interested in extolling the virtues of their system instead of putting dow someone elses believe system. what say?

cardinals_fan
March 22nd, 2009, 03:49 AM
ummm... being an old rocket scientist, and a ms user for many years, and just now checking out linux, it seems like i'm really to stupid to understand why linux is superior to ms; just like i have trouble understanding why islam is superior to catholicism, etc. i believe i'll continue to go with what works with me, and look for people to associate with that arte interested in extolling the virtues of their system instead of putting dow someone elses believe system. what say?
+1

Use what works for you. If the advantages aren't immediately apparent to you, there may not be any for you.

SunnyRabbiera
March 22nd, 2009, 04:40 AM
ummm... being an old rocket scientist, and a ms user for many years, and just now checking out linux, it seems like i'm really to stupid to understand why linux is superior to ms; just like i have trouble understanding why islam is superior to catholicism, etc. i believe i'll continue to go with what works with me, and look for people to associate with that arte interested in extolling the virtues of their system instead of putting dow someone elses believe system. what say?

Well there are many things Linux is better at then Windows, its easier to customize, no addware/spyware/malware/viruses, no defragging, a caring community...
so on so on