Linux Pros and Kons of KDE and Gnome?

I'm using gnome2 right now, and I enjoy it because of its simplicity, but I don't want to be closed minded about things (otherwise why not stick with windows? )

I don't want to know what I should use, because the whole point of linux is decisions, and I want to make the decision, but I do want some help in knowing the difference.

So what are the pros and kons to KDE and Gnome? (if you want to talk about others, such as fluxbox and the like, go for it, but KDE and Gnome seem to be pretty well supported so until I'm a bit deeper in linux I'm going to probably stick with them)

 

Pros: Lots of pretty eye kandy. Integrated utilities and apps. User friendly, and easy to use.

Cons: Ends up being as resouce intensive as Windows. Integrated utilities and apps rely on the window manager, so you end up having to install every thing in KDE just to get Konqueror for example.

I use fluxbox myself, because it is unbelievably fast, and very configurable. Also because I like to know what everything running on my system is doing, and as fluxbox is only a window manager (not a desktop environment like KDE or Gnome) I know who does what and why, where and when.

You also have others, Enlightenment is fast and pretty, I've not used XFCE much, but what I have used I didn't much like. When it comes down to it though, it's just about what works best for you.

 

If you like Gnome I'd recommend trying out Xfce4.

As for pros/cons of Gnome/KDE:

Pros:

Most thing are integrated, i.e sound managers, printer wizards, etc

Cons:

Most things are integrated, meaning it can take a while for your desktop to load, or if you want to configure stuff manually

Sam

 

absolutely love xfce4, been meaning to try out the svn version but i have no clue what i am doing
also who uses a sound manager anymore?

 

++
xfce4 > gnome > kde for me

 

Xfce here as well, on 3 systems and my g/f prefers Xfce over Gnome and Kde

 

Wow, good responses, I was actually trying to figure out a comparison of Gnome and KDE, but it looks like Xfce is pretty popular as well.

I'll install Xfce later on and see what I think. Will all my apps work with any window manager? Or do some work only in Gnome and some only in KDE?

It is also important to note that I still haven't found good ATI drivers that allow for composite effects, so if a filesystem relies on them, then I probably won't be able to use it. (I can use fluxbox, but none of the transparency effects work)

 

No, it doesn't really work like that. Well, I suppose it does, in a way. Some apps will depend on libraries or other things from KDE or Gnome---but you can install these dependencies without actually installing the window manager, if that makes sense. But Gnome programs (i.e something like gdesklets) will work on KDE, it's just that you'll need the dependencies too.

I probably haven't explained this very well...If you read up on "qt" and "gtk" that'll give you a better idea I should think.

Cheers
Sam

 

I use KDE and am very happy with it. I used to be a Gnome zealot and totally ignored KDE but now i have found out how powerful it really is. And it's way faster than Gnome too! (based on personal experience)

 

I've only ever used Gnome, but you can use other WM's apps easily. I've got K3B installed - KDE's CD/DVD burner - and it's just a matter of letting apt-get (or Synaptic) pull down the various dependancies along with the non-local app you want...

I've been put off KDE by the KDE machines we have at work, which have been re-skinned to look far too much like WinXP for my taste! (Yes, that's a silly reason to dislike an entire WM... so be it... )

 

Just wanted to add to this real quick....

From a F/OSS perspective, I prefer Gnome (among others) over KDE. The reason? Qt (pronounced 'Cute'), developed by Trolltech, has a base as proprietary open source - iirc, the current dual license requires all commercial software making use of Qt pay licensing fees. While I understand this, many have chosen Gnome (or, more specifically, Gtk) over KDE & Qt. While Trolltech has assured that Qt will continue to be open source under linux (still many proprietary issues when it comes to development in Windows), this is still a sore spot for many.

 

Personally, I use KDE. I'd tell you why I prefer it to Gnome, but I don't know. I just do.

 

Anyone looked at enlightenment 17? I'm really looking forward to its full release after testing it on the elive distro.

homepage linky

 

Yeah, it looks pretty, but I'm not sure I could be bothered configuring it!

Sam

 

Hmm... Xfce feels alot like OSX...

 

I thought there's a way to supress the explorer.exe in some start bat file...

 

I use Gnome, on reason, I just do, I cant realy telll the diferrience between Gnome and KDE because of the limited work/play I do with linux