Good KDE article (for those of us who love Gnome)

[raublekick]

Saw this on Slashdot, thought it was pretty interesting considering that I pretty much exclusively use Gnome.

http://www.terra.es/personal/diegocg/kde/index.html

I'm glad I caught this article because I definitely was not aware of some of the stuff that is available in KDE.

However, as cool as some of this stuff is, I wonder how I would actually like it. I will totally admit that everything he shows off is cool stuff, but oftentimes cool stuff is a letdown for me because I really don't end up liking it. For example, I have a lot of untagged music, and I organize it all into directories by artist/album. Players like amaroK and Rhythmbox don't appeal to me because a lot of my music shows up under Unknown Artist, etc...

Also, I really like to take control of what my programs are doing. I don't rip CDs unless I know that it's using LAME at 192kbps (maaaybe I'll switch to ogg in the future:rolleyes: ). What he shows with the audiocd:/ KIOslave is cool and easy, but I have no idea what encoder it's using or if I can even change it (or if it will be easy).

The KParts really interests me, although I'm not really into all-in-one applications.

Overall, it gave me a better sense of what KDE is all about. All debates about performance and general usability aside, it looks to me now that KDE can do more advanced stuff than Gnome.

I'm going to apt-get kubuntu-desktop before I go to bed, and I'm going to try to use it exclusively and see how long it takes until I come back to Gnome. I'm really curious whether or not these features that can make my computer-using experience easier will actually accomplish that goal.

What are your thoughts on the article, KDE, Gnome, whatever? I don't want to turn this into yet another KDE vs. Gnome thread or anything, just thought it was a cool article that gave me a new perspective on something and I wanted to share.

[poofyhairguy]

That article is cool. I am currently experimenting with KDE because I want to write about its Eye Candy for my blog.

[Sef]

Am a Gnome user, but do have KDE Desktop too. Have thought about making KDE more Gnome-like because one reason I like it is its minimalism. (And yes, I do like fluxbox a lot too.)

[JimmyJazz]

oh yeah KDE is looks great but Gnome is stable.

[prizrak]

Nice article, he did have some issues there. For instance Nautilus does show your videos and pictures in thumbs if you set it to (although I do believe it defaults to that). There was something else that I don't remember but he claims that Gnome doesn't do. Those things kind of undermine his credibility in my eyes.
Interestingly enough he reinforced my determination to not touch KDE (even though I used to love it @ 3.0). I like the Gnome minimalistic yet functional approach. I think it has to do with preference. I like using stand alone apps, first thing I did when installing Gnome was look for alternatives to what ships with it. Result: Gnome Baker for CD burning, Gnome Commander for file management, Bit Tornado for BT, Firefox (well that one came with Ubuntu) for web, Thunderbird for E-mail, Keepass for Linux for passwords, DC++ for Linux (CVS compile) for DC connectivity. I tend to find small nimble programs with the minimum needed functionality, my stand point is that unless I'm gonna use that function it shouldn't be there (unless it can be implemented w/o slowing down the app and hidden under Expert mode so I don't have to go through millions of menus). I think it's the biggest setback for KDE is how many options it has that are exposed to the end user and are seemingly not grouped.
P.S. I don't like Fluxbox or even XFCE they are TOO bare for my taste. I think Gnome more or less hit what I wanted, good defaults and enough functionality w/o feature creep. Although Metacity is evil and should be shot on sight. :)

[raublekick]

unless I'm gonna use that function it shouldn't be there

I truly agree, prizrak. I guess the tough call is how many users you want to cater to. KDE seems to want to give every possible option, which is cool, but not everyone wants it.

A big difference between KDE and Gnome in my experience is that with Gnome I have to add things to the defaults to make it how I want it. With KDE I find myself taking things away from the defaults to get what I want.

Since I have off work the next few days, I have plenty of time to get my feet wet in KDE and really see if I like it. Usually I just install it, use it like I use Gnome except I don't theme it or change any looks, and then I give up.

[xequence]

Nice article, but about this:


You insert your audio CD, go to the directory you want, you copy the files you want to have with your mouse, paste them, and the audiocd KIOslave automatically will rips those tracks for you.

I dont want KIOslave to do this for me! Who knows what format it will rip into? And what bitrate? Unless it can read my mind to know I want LAME 3.97 at --alt-preset standard, I wont use it.