[MLUG] Re: Torvalds: "Use KDE"

[Matthew Schmidt <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I prefer Gnome to KDE any day. And I've used both of them extensively.

In addition to them, I've used FVWM, TWM, IceWM, Fluxbox, XFCE, and more. I run a lot of old machines.

Gnome is an integrated desktop that's simple to use. The file manager is excellent, intuitive, and powerful. Skinning is a piece of cake. Gnome reminds me of Apple's Aqua desktop. Gnome's based on GTK, so tons of apps look like they're Gnome-native (
e.g., Firefox, Gaim, Gimp, etc.). For me, I'm able to "get to done" using Gnome much more efficiently than using KDE. But that's because I've been using it more often of late. Blame my switch from Sarge/IceWM to Ubuntu/Gnome. I also find Gnome to be more stable than KDE, but that's entirely based on subjective impressions.

KDE is made up of a bunch of different parts that are kind of glued together. It is nowhere near as integrated as Gnome. The eye candy factor is much higher in KDE, but in my experience, the performance was much lower. The file manager is similar to Windows Explorer, but can be configured to be usable. KDE is based on QT, which has a wierd license that makes it fairly expensive to develop any for-profit apps on top of it. All of your GTK apps look out of place in KDE. Kind of like running X apps on a Mac. KDE is configurable ad infinitum. Which is fun if you have time for that sort of thing. KDE reminds me very much of WinXP. KDE's got some cool features, but it's just not my cuppa.

I think the reason Torvalds is telling people to use KDE instead of Gnome is the same reason he disses on the Hurd. Because people spend a lot of time designing it before they start working on implementation. From what I've read, Torvalds seems to be more of a "do it and see if it works" type of engineer. He's unconcerned with usability; instead, he's concerned with functionality. Which is cool. You've always gotta have one of those types of people on your team. But what of elegance and ease-of-use? Maybe my humanities work has tainted me with an eye for the aesthetic, but I do enjoy working in an environment that is not only well engineered, but also designed from a user-centric perspective. Not to say that KDE is not, but from a usability standpoint, I'd go with Gnome any day.

Still, KDE has better games ;-)

Matt
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