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KDE or GNOME - which is more popular
- Thread starter geokor
- Start date
George,
From what I can tell (and I'm just a newbie to Linux), the 'which is better - GNOME or KDE' question is much like asking 'which is better - Mercedes-Benz or BMW' in that it appears to be very much up to individual tastes.
Though, I am a *complete* newbie (I guess that would be 'incomplete' then eh?) so I might be completely off track.
Personally, I use GNOME just because it looked kinda weird. Beyond that I haven't seen a big difference.
BTW - where does the 'window manager' fit into this debate as well - I understand that different ones of those ALSO change the look and feel of the linux environment.
Regards
wmg
From what I can tell (and I'm just a newbie to Linux), the 'which is better - GNOME or KDE' question is much like asking 'which is better - Mercedes-Benz or BMW' in that it appears to be very much up to individual tastes.
Though, I am a *complete* newbie (I guess that would be 'incomplete' then eh?) so I might be completely off track.
Personally, I use GNOME just because it looked kinda weird. Beyond that I haven't seen a big difference.
BTW - where does the 'window manager' fit into this debate as well - I understand that different ones of those ALSO change the look and feel of the linux environment.
Regards
wmg
- Thread starter
- #3
I wasn't asking which is better - I'm trying to find out which is used more often in commercial (as oppposed to home) use. I was curious because it seems like KDE is "more" commercial (used in *nix shops) but that might be a misconception on my part. No big deal, simply wondering...
GK
GK
I think KDE is more used for commercial purposes, because the QT toolset it uses is an offshoot of a commercial toolset by TrollTech, and they offer a convenient set of standardized components. I know that GTK does the same for Gnome, but it doesn't seem to have the same appeal to commercial interests. Also, Gnome was done with C, while KDE was done with C++, which is more popular for GUI-building applications.
But, there are a few places where Gnome is still preeminent. I believe Sun Corporation uses Gnome as its default window manager instead of KDE.
My feeling is, KDE is more popular for Joe Average User office-productivity type stuff, while Gnome has more of a cool hacker appeal, so it may be used more as the default window manager for a server admin. KDE may be a little more boring than Gnome, but it's reassuring to business types.
I have no hard numbers to support this, though.
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Current reading --
But, there are a few places where Gnome is still preeminent. I believe Sun Corporation uses Gnome as its default window manager instead of KDE.
My feeling is, KDE is more popular for Joe Average User office-productivity type stuff, while Gnome has more of a cool hacker appeal, so it may be used more as the default window manager for a server admin. KDE may be a little more boring than Gnome, but it's reassuring to business types.
I have no hard numbers to support this, though.
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Current reading --
- Thread starter
- #5
Yeah, well my personal favorite is Blackbox, ( which is neither KDE or Gnome, but an extremely fast, lightweight, cool hackerish window manager.
The cool stuff is never going to work for the majority, unfortunately.
Ironically, the creator of Blackbox is now working for TrollTech (the QT people). -------------------
Current reading --
The cool stuff is never going to work for the majority, unfortunately.
Ironically, the creator of Blackbox is now working for TrollTech (the QT people). -------------------
Current reading --
Hi,
I'm not sure I'd agree on this. KDE is older than GNOME and in some ways is more advanced but it is only the preferred desktop on some Linux distros, most notably Suse. The linux distro that is most widely used in corporates is Redhat and redhat always defaults to using Gnome as a desktop. The main reason Gnome ever came into being was that a lot of people objected to the non-GPL licence of the QT libraries on which KDE is based. Gnome was/is intended to be a fully 'free' desktop that didn't have any such licensing constraints. Also remember the ximian version of gnome which is quite a bit slicker than the default and adds things such as the evolution email client (some would say outlook clone). Ximian have recently announced a M$ MAPI connector for that (although you have to buy it shock horror) which is another big plus in the battle to overcome the stranglehold of our redmond friends. ( .
Also, its a bit old but have a look at this article :
Having said the above, it seems to me that, if you give people a choice, KDE tends to still win more votes than Gnome. However, as indicated above, I would strongly suspect that Gnome is actually more widely used in corporates.
Hope this helps
I'm not sure I'd agree on this. KDE is older than GNOME and in some ways is more advanced but it is only the preferred desktop on some Linux distros, most notably Suse. The linux distro that is most widely used in corporates is Redhat and redhat always defaults to using Gnome as a desktop. The main reason Gnome ever came into being was that a lot of people objected to the non-GPL licence of the QT libraries on which KDE is based. Gnome was/is intended to be a fully 'free' desktop that didn't have any such licensing constraints. Also remember the ximian version of gnome which is quite a bit slicker than the default and adds things such as the evolution email client (some would say outlook clone). Ximian have recently announced a M$ MAPI connector for that (although you have to buy it shock horror) which is another big plus in the battle to overcome the stranglehold of our redmond friends. ( .
Also, its a bit old but have a look at this article :
Having said the above, it seems to me that, if you give people a choice, KDE tends to still win more votes than Gnome. However, as indicated above, I would strongly suspect that Gnome is actually more widely used in corporates.
Hope this helps
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