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Thread ID: 77103 2007-02-26 22:24:00 For the Linux Fans pctek (84) PC World Chat
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528431 2007-02-26 22:24:00 www.desktoplinux.com

Analysis -- It's no secret that Linus Torvalds, Linux's founder, dislikes the GNOME desktop.
pctek (84)
528432 2007-02-26 23:34:00 Interesting discussion PC .

I use a distro that uses KDE, but have been curious about Gnome, however, on the basis of that (admittedly) small sample, I'd be reluctant to switch to a Gnome distro .

Here's why . I'd describe myself as a (somewhat) power user, middle of the road configurer, someone who likes to customise and optimise my set up a little, use apps that aren't to the forefront or install them if they aren't present at all . But I ain't a Linux guru by any means, the CLI challenges me in the extreme, I still haven't figured out (more by inclination) what purpose and function of all the various directories and arcane tools of my distro of choice are .

Gnome in that case would leave me severely restricted unless I learned the inner workings of the system that I haven't been able or bothered thus far to do . No thanks .
Murray P (44)
528433 2007-02-27 00:57:00 www.desktoplinux.com

Analysis -- It's no secret that Linus Torvalds, Linux's founder, dislikes the GNOME desktop.
Thanks for that. It pretty well sums up why any Ubuntu disks I have are under potplants.
It's not Ubuntu that grates so much as Gnome? Maybe I should fetch the Kubuntu disk out from down under and look at it?
R2x1 (4628)
528434 2007-02-27 01:01:00 Rx, I use Mepis, which is now based on Ubuntu (Deb), but uses the KDE interface. It suits me anyway. Murray P (44)
528435 2007-02-27 06:25:00 Linus is allowed to prefer KDE but obviously there is a major Gnome following cos it is still around. My understanding was that certain distros use(d) Gnome as KDE used some libraries which were not fully GPL compliant, therefore Redhat has stuck with Gnome. dolby digital (5073)
528436 2007-02-27 07:54:00 I use Fluxbox, as far as I'm concerned Gnome/KDE can go to hell :P byte (11156)
528437 2007-02-27 08:28:00 Linus is allowed to prefer KDE but obviously there is a major Gnome following cos it is still around. My understanding was that certain distros use(d) Gnome as KDE used some libraries which were not fully GPL compliant, therefore Redhat has stuck with Gnome.That used to be the case, but that was changed a long time ago. These days it's more a decision of what the devs think should go in. Erayd (23)
528438 2007-02-27 08:39:00 Interesting article. I know KDE vs Gnome discussions can go nuclear pretty fast on Linux boards. I started off with Gnome when I first used Red Hat 8.0, but tried out KDE for a change and have never really gone back. I always install Gnome so that I can check out what the latest version looks like to keep an open mind, but it just doesn't do it for me.

Gnome is minimalistic, and you can see from the comments this is supposed to make it more user friendly with limiting the menu options. KDE on the other hand has a very complex menu with most things listed which could be information overload for the newbie. However, this minimalistic look drives me nuts and thwarts me when I do certain tasks; I certainly don't want to work out what the command is for that application that I know is installed but doesn't appear on the menu just so that I can launch it.

Fedora has Gnome for the default desktop environment mainly for the reason that dolby digital gave, however they still include the full KDE desktop on the install disks which you can select to be installed instead (or as well).
Jen (38)
528439 2007-02-27 09:46:00 I will give GNOME more than a day's trial if it can provide a decent launch (in their case the footprint thing) menu editor out of the box. They both do the same things and generally do them very well, so the only real thing to discriminate on is how easy it is to configure. So far for me KDE has provided superior usability in this respect. TGoddard (7263)
528440 2007-02-28 07:13:00 I just dont like it coz its not as pretty out-of-the-box and seems a lot more confusing trying to configure when compared with KDE.

Lets face it, KDE just looks prettier, Im a sucker for a good looking desktop ;)

I dunno, its just never really appealed to me since I ditched Redhat 8.0
Chilling_Silence (9)
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