KDE vs GNOME?

Submitted by robataka on Thu, 11/10/2005 - 18:06.

I saw today that Novell will be focusing on GNOME as there Desktop Envirionment for SUSE, etc. Being a KDE fan I was a little disappointed to see that. But in that same article, I saw a link to an item where the founder of Ubuntu, a Debian-based distribution almost soley focused on Gnome, in fact uses Kubuntu, a KDE focused version of Ubuntu. And that in fact that he wanted to see Kubuntu become more mainstream within the Ubuntu organization.

Having installed Kubuntu on my wife's and my sister-in-laws boxen, I am glad to see Kubuntu picking up some speed. And the "competition" between GNOME and KDE, as well as the collaboration between the two groups, is a win for everyone.

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We need a lab to play with each of them

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 11/10/2005 - 23:45.

Having started my computing life with Mac, then DOS, then Windows from 95 to NT 4 to XP, now Ubuntu and occasionally Mac X and Kubuntu, I've gotten used to not caring what's running my desktop or even the aps, but just how to get tasks done... ideallt on an ASP off my desktop. Using Ubuntu (w/ GNOME), and OpenOffice, I can get most everything done, and don't pay tolls to Microsoft or Apple, so I'm thrilled with every version and configuration of LINUX I've tried.

But I am interested to learn more about where LINUX is headed and differentiators like GNOME vs. KDE (not to mention what are the best plugins for playing QuickTime videos)... what of all this will help me get more done better? Perhaps you can host a forum or roundtable on this.

Whither Linux

Submitted by robataka on Fri, 11/11/2005 - 09:09.

Lol. I think it may be easier to ask where Linux isn't going. From PDAs to mainframes. From consumer products to enterprise business solutions. Beware, its everywhere ! ;-)

More Better

Submitted by robataka on Fri, 11/11/2005 - 09:05.

Interestingly enough, it is not necessarily getting more done better per se, but getting the right tool for what you need. Taking my Mom for example, a Linux desktop would be more than sufficient. She browses some, uses simple word processing and simple spreadsheets, with a daily dose of email.

Interestingly enough, she is on windows 98 since she has felt zero need for anything other than that. That is a scenario where a linux desktop is more than sufficient for her needs, she is not forced into an expensive software upgrade because it is no longer "supported".

On the other hand, IBM announced it was going to switch all its employees to linux desktops by the end of this year. They announced this two years ago and issued a mid-term report in December of last year. They ain't gonna meet the initial goal because it turns out that for many of their applications it was much harder than they anticipated.

So while it may be a case of doing more better, it also may simply be a case of doing the same for less.

oops

Submitted by robataka on Fri, 11/11/2005 - 09:06.

That was supposed to be comment to you norm....

For me, more better and more for less go hand in hand

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 11/11/2005 - 11:33.

I agree - that is a great opportunity in this community of digitally divided and often impoverished people. But the same applies to power-users and wanna-be's.  I need to use lots of software tools every day - word processing, email, spreadsheet, graphics, video - I like to KISS - keep it simple stupid - so I find OpenOffice and other built in Lunux tools do that best for me - better than MS Office and Windows tools. But, because there are other powerful tools available for open source, like GIMP for photo editing, that replace aps I couldn't justify buying in packages, like PhotoShop, I find FOSS opens up new worlds of doing more, better, for $0. That doesn't even take into acount cool revolutionary tools like Drupal for CMS, Sugar for CRM, and Asterix for VIOP, etc., etc., that you can't but in a package even if you have money to burn.