Friendly Opinion Poll: Should Ubuntu continue to only support Gnome?

[zenwhen]

I personally think that a lot of Ubuntu's polish comes from the dev's focus on Gnome. I think a lot of what makes Ubuntu special could be lost if their efforts were spread over two Desktop Environments. Sure, more users could be gained by supporting KDE, but I don't KDE "feels right" for Ubuntu.

I feel that Ubuntu could become both technically and philosophically diluted by supporting KDE. What do you think?

[kal_zakath]

I agree, I really think gnome is the finest desktop environement around. Lots of features, great look, lighter than KDE, etc...

I always used gnome, and if ubuntu seduced me, it's also because of this gnome support.

[zenwhen]

Well said.

I also want to make sure everyone knows this is supposed to be a friendly discussion.

Remember, we are all in this together. :grin:

[jdong]

I, too, was seduced to GNOME by Ubuntu.

However, I still use K3b because IMO it's still the best burning program EVER.

KDevelop also has a few features that I like, so once in a while I'll use it too.

I'd appreciate it if Ubuntu, instead of supporting running KDE as an alternative desktop to GNOME, supported running a few apps, like K3b inside GNOME. It works mostly, but the setup is not newbie-friendly.

A bit of KDE artwork so KDE apps match GNOME would be cool, too. Sort of like Bluecurve, but not blue and without curves... ;)

[zenwhen]

That is a very valid point. I hope there is a GTK K3B replacement soon. Only then will I be able to remove the required KDE libs from my system. Perhaps those should be included with Ubuntu, along with K3B being set up during install until such time that there is a suitable Gnome replacement?

Theres still some disk space left.

[mark]

I, too, was seduced to GNOME by Ubuntu.<snip>....
Hmm - I guess you could say I was seduced to Ubuntu by GNOME. I've always much preferred the GNOME environment to KDE. I've also looked at some "lightweight" environments, such as Xfce, but I keep coming back to GNOME. I'm just more comfortable with it...and I think Ubuntu should continue to concentrate on it as the sole "out-of-the-box" (sic) desktop.

Or you could say, "...a wealthy scoundrel seduced and betrayed me". No, wait, that's the movie Ronin...;-)

[Jspired]

I love GNOME and I hope to see Ubuntu continue their relationship with GNOME. That said, I know many others prefer KDE and other window managers. Making those alternatives available doesn't seem like a bad thing either.

[MoveZig]

I used to run kde when I had Suse. After using gnome on my new ubuntu instalation, I never want to use kde again.

[shoelessmike]

I used to be die hard KDE before trying Ubuntu. I liked the flash and wow factor. Since switching to Ubuntu, however, I've come to see the beauty of Gnome. Still, some features such as integrated music-ripping and better preview support (so far as I can see) in KDE are sorely missed.
*Sigh*

[TravisNewman]

I despise KDE. I can't wait for there to be an audio burning resource in Gnome so that users aren't dependent on K3B. But, some love KDE, and therefore the KDE packages should be tested, but not officially supported. They should basically work, but it's not an important part of the development.

[Karnaugh]

I think it should "support" neither.

The window manager is a very separate part of the Linux system and should remain so. As always I'm sure people are more than capable (so long as there is a good package management system) of installing their own window manager, KDE, Gnome, WindowMaker etc as they please.

Most people who have become accustomed to WindowMaker, Fluxbox etc never want to touch the likes of KDE or Gnome with a 10 foot pole ever again.

[KiwiNZ]

I tend to swap between KDE and Gnome depending on what one takes my fancy .
Linux is about choice and it is dead easy to add KDE after ubuntu is installed .

[MarcDM]

Lots of people prefer KDE, and lots of Distros use it as the default. I prefer gnome, and was using it on SuSE, RedHat and Fedora 1 before coming to Ubuntu. But here, it just plain works.

I still have a couple issue with GTK 1.x apps. They looked better when I used ulb-gnome (www.usr-local-bin.org (http://www.usr-local-bin.org/linux.php)).

Big-ups to the Ubuntu crew. Thanks for the great work.

And thanks for the Live CD. It's been a life saver since those 2 hard drives failed :-)

[piedamaro]

But, some love KDE, and therefore the KDE packages should be tested, but not officially supported. They should basically work, but it's not an important part of the development.
It would be fine ( for kde users at least ) but quite impossible to do in the sense that if something is wrong with kde, they should put effort to make it work, and hence it will become an important part of the development process.
If they don't support kde, it means that, if something doesn't work, it's your problem because kde is unsupported. (it's no sense to use bugzilla for an unsupported product).
My 2 € cents

[LongTooth]

I started out with KDE way back -Mandrake 8.1. And I loved it. Couldn't stand Gnome. I guess it was the flash of KDE that got to me. After a year of using KDE/Mandrake, I purchased SuSE. I decided to give Gnome at try. I knew that I had to use it at least a month to make a decent comparison. Well, I didn't make that comparision. I just didn't go back to KDE. Nothing wrong with KDE but Gnome won my heart and mind. Haven't looked back. It just 'feels' crisp, clean and lighter. Looks more professional too.

The world needs a Gnome centered distro. There are more KDE distros out there than you can shake a stick at. But as for my opinion, I think Ubuntu should stick to Gnome. Debian plus Gnome is a winning combination. As far as a KDE version, I agree with previous posters, if it's going to be offered, let it be a concerted effort. Otherwise one is left out in the cold with no support.

Now if Ubuntu could only get some decent multimedia support...

[[xploit]]

The truth is, KDE is a major factor in 99.999% (and yes I did pull that number right out of the air :roll: ) of the other Live and One CD installs. Knoppix for one, a Live CD with an optional install, KDE. Other than Morphix and Gnoppix, a large majority of the other Debian based distro's all focus on KDE. I chose ubuntu due to the Gnome factor.

KDE while polished does not mix well with debian. While Gnome + Debian (especially how gnome integrates with debians 'menu' ) looks more polished and stream lined.

Lets remember also that KDE was already well under development while gnome not much more than a panel to load. To see what Gnome has provided in the last few years really speaks well about where it's going as a desktop.

Let's just hope that soon, KDE OR Gnome we can tools to use no matter what our desktop preference.

[jdodson]

gnome is a great desktop, however i totally love the fact that kde is out there. choice is awesome. personally i generally use gnome and occasionally fluxbox. i do use k3b and dont think its bad to do so as k3b is a great cd ripping tool. i am actually really glad kde and gnome work together so well! it would really suck if they were completley incompatable.

anyways it seems many gnu/linuxes support gnome by default and many support kde, seems like a tie at least for the big distros.

novell linux desktop - gnome
java desktop - gnome
redhat/fedora - gnome
suse - kde
mandrake - kde
knoppix - kde(many other livecds follow suit)
debian - i dont think there is one
gentoo - i dont think there is one

[salsafyren]

That is a very valid point. I hope there is a GTK K3B replacement soon. Only then will I be able to remove the required KDE libs from my system. Perhaps those should be included with Ubuntu, along with K3B being set up during install until such time that there is a suitable Gnome replacement?

Theres still some disk space left.

Try GnomeBaker:

http://www.biddell.co.uk/gnomebaker.php

Regards,

Chris

[arctic]

i like the fact that ubuntu is concentrating on gnome only. but i also understand that kde users might want to get more "support" for their desktop. it is hard to tell if taking more care of kde will diminish the gnome pleasure (i hope not!). the best thing would be to upgrade the number of coders and have one kde team and one gnome team that are meeting regulary in order to discuss stuff. but this would cost lots of money...

i think there won't be an immediate solution for kde users. and... which desktop do we start next to work on in order to make it melt better with ubuntu? XFCE? Fluxbox? ...

[khad]

KDE "support" would probably detract from the already great Gnome support. KDE should definitely work, though. Otherwise what's the point of having it in the repositories? Advanced users should be able to apt-get KDE if they choose, but let's not try to spread the development team too thin. One desktop environment is enough for developers to squash bugs in. Let's not slow the process.

[emperor]

Personally I prefer Gnome and had a very hard time finding another Distro other than RH/Fedora that was Gnome polished. I picked Ubuntu because it was Gnome centric and Debian based. There are several really good KDE centric Distros and some that are based on Debian, If I wanted Debian and KDE, I would install MEPIS!