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Gnome vs KDE

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Software

It appears this old argument is flaring up again. On Linux.com there was an article discussing some recent posts on the Linux Foundation's Desktop Architects mailing list: Christian Schaller suggested Linus Torvalds should try using Gnome for a month and then report back on his experiences at the forthcoming GAUDEC conference in the UK. Inspired by this I've decided to take up the challenge – all be it in the opposite direction (and I won't be reporting back at GAUDEC!).

I haven't used KDE in well over a year, and when I did I only used it for a few days, so I have very few expectations about what I'm going to find.

Logging in for the first time seemed to take quite a while to reach the desktop so this persuaded me to compare the two desktops in terms of speed: this first login was a bit of a fluke because when I switched back to compare this with Gnome the second login seemed a lot quicker. In fact I would say that KDE actually feels a bit sharper than Gnome across the entire desktop with applications starting quicker, specifically Firefox – a great start for KDE!

Full Story.

I had to register just to post a message for this !

Hmm ! When I first used Unix ( actually xenix) many years ago, it took me about a week to learn all the common functionality such as editing files, compiling c code, learning awk, sed etc. And all this was command line.

So, Torvalds has to torture himself for a month so that he gets used to the punishment ( as a POW usually does), JUST so gnome can claim one more casualty ?

I have a better suggestion - why don't these morons use KDE for two DAYS ? And then tell me they have been misled all along by gnome pushers ( read RH controlled by stallman) ?

Idiots !

Gnome and KDE--How many really switch?

I wonder how many people have used KDE or Gnome for a long period of time, then switched to the other? Not as an experiment, but as a genuine preference.

Years ago when first trying Linux I moved back and forth between Gnome and KDE. I had previously used MS-Windows in various versions, but I also used OS/2, and the BeOS for extensive periods--I was always a bit discontent with MS-Windows--I started chafing under the menacing dark shadow of the "microsoft monopolistic monolith" early on .

As I started using Linux more and more, it came time to make a choice for my primary desktop. Back then, Gnome felt just a little faster, but KDE just fit better. I've stayed with KDE over the years, and haven't regretted that choice. However, I suspect that if I'd chosen Gnome back then, I would still be using Gnome today, and I would likely feel the same way about it.

It was was helpful when these two major desktop camps cooperated just enough to provide for some interoperability of applications.

Speaking of the basic toolkits, Trolltech's dynamic impresses me very much. As they edge closer to version qt4.3, I can see some killer stuff going in there. Since KDE 4 will be based on the qt4.3 toolkit, I think KDE 4 has tremendous potential. I do read the planetkde.org blogs fairly regularly, and I'm very much looking forward to KDE 4. I don't keep up with Gnome-GTK2/+ development, so I don't know what's going on there.

About Linus, one has to always pay attention to what he has to say, as he has the longest perspective on GNU/Linux. This does not always make him right.

In my evolution as a Linux user, I'm becoming less strident about my choice of distro/desktop being best for everyone. I do enjoy highly-specific in-depth discussions of technical merit and comparisons of features regarding distro and desktop choices. I don't enjoy vague "my distro is better than yours" or "my desktop is better than yours" squabbles. And the all-to-frequent resulting flamefests bore me beyond tears.

random comment

Personally, I think the "tears" metric for boredom is way oversold.

Since there is really nothing pre or post tears (i.e. I'm being bored almost, but not quite, to tears - or - I'm so past the point of tears in my level of boredom) it seems to be a fluffy and totally non-scientific scale.

Also, has there really been any documented tears being caused by boredom? Never being more then slightly bored myself, I have no empirical evidence for that statement.

I think we need to get a full blown boredom metric (like the Richter or Moh scale).

As to Gnome vs KDE, I actually like the simplistic Gnome approach but... KDE has the Apps (or Applets) that make my life productive. I'm usually a KDE type person, but for the last few weeks, I've been trying to be a Gnome user on my Laptop (running Linux Mint) - too early to tell if I'll stick with it, but so far no major problems.

re: random comment

It's an actual physical phenomenon with me. My eyes tend to water when I yawn, so I actually do appear to cry when yawning - such as in conditions of extreme boredom. Sometimes I yawn so much, I have to dab my eyes with tissue and often folks ask me, "What's wrong!?" I have to say, 'oh, nothing, my eyes water when I yawn.'

So, the phrase 'bored to tears' actually has some real meaning for me.

True story. Big Grin

GNOME vs. KDE arguments: Useless

I tear up when yawning, too.

About this GNOME vs. KDE thing: I'm a KDE fan, but arguing about it is about as useless as the neverending PC vs. Mac war. Linus just gets a bunch of attention when he does stuff like this because, well, he's Linus.

(And what I think of GNOME is that it's too oversimplified, compared to KDE. Almost as if its devs decided to dumb it down. Its GTK-based dialog boxes suck rocks -- it's too bad Firefox is stuck with those awful dialog boxes. KDE's file manager is better than GNOME's. Also, KDE just looks better. But I do have GNOME installed, and play with it occasionally, along with Xfce and Fluxbox.

OK, so now you go make up your own mind!)

boredom metric scale

Well Mohs scale isn't integral or exponential, but based on the hardness of known common materials. In that spirit, I propose this (hastily written) scale of boredom, from 1 to 4:

1. Yawn once, read headline and less than three sentences and move on.

2. After reading headline and one sentence, yawn twice, eyes glaze and start to roll back in head. Move on.

3. Read the headline only. Eyes glaze over, nearly pass out.

4. Read part of the headline. Near catatonia. Listening to a Paris Hilton interview actually begins to sound interesting.

re: boredom metric scale

lolol that's a good one.

5. Catch a jest of the headline and yawn to the point of eyes watering and needing a tissue.

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