Six months ago, I decided that the GNOME desktop was ready for exclusive use on my desktop computer. Having used GNOME daily since that time, I have come to appreciate the thought and attention to detail that makes GNOME so friendly and usable. I have written a brief article that describes my experience with GNOME and that provides a brief introduction to GNOME for those who have yet to try it out for themselves.
i like apples better then oranges. not to say i hate oranges, i just like apples more. i also like gnome more then kde. does that mean i think “kde sux0r”? um… no. i just like gnome more.
i actually liked the article, and i dont like flames. he ran through the reasons he liked gnome. he mentioned kde a few times, but i wouldnt consider any of them flames. but of course, anything that could possibly be construed with an attack on kde means people will freak. kde and gnome are the two biggest desktop environments in linux. kde and gnome developers for the most part get along. there is friendly competition, but you dont get anywhere near the heat or zealotry as by the idiots on osnews and elsewhere.
i dont like kde. i was an oldtime mac user, and feel more at home in gnome, as gnome strives for the same goals that mac does. kde strives for different goals. do i hate kde? hell no. if kde can help people enjoy linux more, then more power to them.
this article didnt flame kde unless you are a zealot. dont get me wrong, gnome people can be just as bad. the thing i hate most about being a techie is computer users, be it windows, mac, or linux. not because of elitism or whatever, but because they treat their operating system of choice like a religion.
“i hate most about being a techie is computer users, be it windows, mac, or linux. not because of elitism or whatever, but because they treat their operating system of choice like a religion”
You mean technical users because most computer users despise their OS when it breaks and treat it with a sort of naive ignorance when it does. I find people who don’t even bother to run needed updates when they are so easy to do much more annoying.
But yes, zealoutry is annoying. I’d say which zealouts bother me the most, but I don’t have time to read all those complaints from windows zealouts.
no, i mean computer users. most people who complain in places like this dont know what they are talking about. its not something thats limited to windows users, or technical users.
im not talking aunt tillie here, im talking your average 14 year old who is able to find his way to a mailing list or message board, assumes he know all there is to know about mac/windows/linux/kde/gnome, and procedes to make unfair comparisions, harp about trivial matters, and generally troll like he was born to it.
the only thing i can see that comes close to being a troll in that article is “When KDE 2.0 was released in October of 2000, it proved to be a large disappointment. I didn’t like the look of it at all.” how in the world does that one paragraph translate into 110 comments?
this is not unique to kde users, its a common trait with every os. you alwas have the people who really understand it and like it for reasons of their own, then the people who like it cause its not the competition. those people are not technical, they know a little but alot less then they think they do. they also make life hell for the rest of us.
I honestly like both Gnome and KDE, a lot. They both provide positive user experiences, in different ways. Gnome goes for the “less is more”, simple approach, while KDE goes for as many features and configurations, and eye candy as possible. Thus, I would never use a distro that does not support both equally, because depending on my mood of the day, I can take advantage of either one.
What I like about Gnome: A very simple, easy to use, clean, uncluttered, attractive interface that feels very comfortable and is very productive. The HIG is also a big plus, because it helps ensure consistency and ease of use. To me, Gnome is like a beautiful Zen garden.
What I like about KDE: Very mature, feature rich, highly configurable, lots of sparkling eye candy, and a great development framework (C++/QT). KDE also seems to be snappier and more efficient than Gnome (likely due to the more streamlined framework). To me, KDE is like a sparkling amusement park.
What I don’t like about Gnome: A little behind in features and applications, compared to KDE. Also, the C/GTK+/Gnome/Corba/Bonobo development framework is a bit over-complicated and messy. From what I’ve seen on message boards, developers who have programmed for both Gnome and KDE have commented about how QT is so much cleaner, easier and more productive than GTK+. My experience with putting together small apps has reflected this observation. Gnome should perhaps look into using GTKmm (the C++ wrapper for GTK+) more, as it encapsulates and hides a lot of the complexity (I don’t like the Mono option, as MS controls the patents, and thus licensing, regardless of the .Net standard).
What I don’t like about KDE: There’s too much clutter, menus are not as well organized, and it’s harder to learn and use than Gnome. KDE could well use a bit of cleaning up, reorganizing and streamlining – they should perhaps adopt some of the Gnome HIG.
Thus, I don’t understand the Gnome/KDE flame wars, and the absolute moronic religious zealotry that goes with it. If you perfer one over the other, than go for it and use it happily. There’s no need to flame others for liking the other desktop. And it only makes Linux users (most of whom are nice, normal, intelligent people) look like blathering idiots.
We should all be extremely glad that there are two main desktop environments (and some other smaller ones), that both compete with other and compliment each other, because choice is one of the great things about Linux and Open Source. Being able to easily switch between Gnome and KDE, depending on my mood or present needs, is part of what makes Linux so appealing to me.
JeffS, Your post is very well thought out and reflects my feelings to a very large degree. I think your post is the best and most accurate out of any in this entire thread
“click on the wheel. i have been doing that for about 2 years here. works the same as a mouse button. really. try it”
Logitech-Thumb button same as middle button .
Is there any program in a competing libray, ie GTK, that cost’s over 10 dollors, that does not have an already existing “free as in cost” or freedom/FOSS alternative.
The point being, who develops GNU/Linux software in GTK or Qt and actually charges for it.
If people want to draw up stupid connections like Troll Tech being controlled by SCO group — consider this Torvalds used to work for Transmeta Crusoe, a company with well known connections to microsoft, who also sponsor kernel.org.
Thanks for the compliment on my post, Chris. I liked your reveiw of Gnome 2.6 as well. It’s very well thought out and presented. Unfortunately, a few perceived negative comments about KDE in your review (which I thought were actually constructive, realistic comments – neither DE is perfect) seemed to set off the usuall flame wars from the zealots of both camps. Such silliness.
The ironic thing is that the developers of both Gnome and KDE get along great, and in fact cooperate in many instances. They are unified by a common cause – to advance Linux/Unix/BSD/Open Source, and screw M$. But it’s a minority of Gnome and KDE users that seem to have nothing better to do than to flame each other.
I’m eager to try Gnome 2.6 (I have 2.4 with my Mandrake 10 installation). But I don’t want to install Gnome directly, nor try Gentoo, because being a father of a two year old does not allow me the time to do such things (I can squeeze just enough time to write some small apps for fun). I also don’t want to use Fedora 2 because I used to use Red Hat, then went with Mandrake, and well, I just like Mandrake better.
So I’ll probably just wait until the next Mandrake release when they have Gnome 2.6, or maybe SuSE (since Novell also owns Ximian). Nonetheless, Gnome 2.4 is also excellent.
I’d like to throw in one more thing regarding QT licensing. No one should worry about it. Trolltech has built their business model on dual licensing, and has been very successful in doing so. Trolltech has benefitted tremendously by having the dual licensing model, because they get a free army of testers and enhancers on their product, as well as an easily established user base and thus easy marketing.
If they decided to pull the plug on the GPL / QPL version of QT, then they would be cutting off their nose to spite their face. So it’s not going to happen. Trolltech is a friend of open source, and is proving the viability of open source as a business model.
So whether you use Gnome/GTK+ or KDE/QT, you are safe. Just develop with whatever suits you, and whichever environment you like best. Or do both, and learn from the experience.