On Tue, 5 Feb 2002 10:20:30 +0100, Roman Korcek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey all, > I am mainly using KDE, but wonder what Gnome could offer. > Now I would like to know why each of you is using the one and not the > other - ie. what is your personal preference and why, what option does > it make the right one for you. > > And please let's not talk about other WMs, I would only like to > "compare" *these* two.
Wars can (and have) been fought over this sort of thing, but in the end it comes down to personal preferences and tastes. This is my take on things. While I like both GNOME and KDE, I prefer GNOME, and I have been using it for close to three years now. KDE is primarily targeted at the consumer and average user, particularly one migrating from Windows. As a result, it can be viewed as 'Windows on steroids' or 'Windows done better'. GNOME, on the other hand, offers a great deal of flexibility and power (not that KDE isn't powerful...), at the expense of a little user-friendliness. GNOME can take a little longer to get used to, and its functionality can only be truly appreciated through experimentation and configuration. KDE is a bit more plug-'n-play, and once that's done, there's little much more that you can do. GNOME is getting more user friendly, though. Sun Microsystems commissioned a major usability study of GNOME last year. Expect this to be a big influence on future GNOME development, particularly with GNOME2 (due in March) and beyond. Generally, KDE apps should work in GNOME with no trouble, and vice versa. I use Konqueror in GNOME all the time. For a full GNOME experience, you should try Ximian GNOME, available at http://www.ximian.com. Also, don't forget that there are a whole bunch of other environments out there. They may not have as much functionality, but they are often quite innovative, incorporating features and methodology that you may not see in the Big Two environments. They also tend to much lighter and faster. Examples of these include XFce, IceWM, Enlightenment, WindowMaker and Fluxbox. -- Sridhar Dhanapalan 133+ w1nd0z d00d
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