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The Linux distillery Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME
The Linux distillery Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME | Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Monday, 19 May 2008 | |
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I have to give unabashed credit to the iTWire editor, here. Stan Beer. He said to me I ought to write a story explaining the differences between KDE and GNOME and cutting through the arcane terminology to make clear just what these vital, and thus oft-mentioned but rarely described, pieces of software are. I said yes, but figured I’d survey people on what their personal preferences are. After all, I recently did this to gauge just why Ubuntu had hit such a sweet spot in people’s hearts. The feedback from readers and Linux User Group members was very interesting. Some of the feedback to that story showed Stan’s prescience. A reader identifying himself or herself as Square Eyes commented, “I do not understand what GNOME or KDE mean. How do these terms fit into the equation?” I was approached during the week by some potential Linux converts who told me they’d fired up Ubuntu but then didn’t really know what to do. They played a couple of card games and then booted back into familiar Windows territory. So, I wrote about getting from “newb” to 100 with Ubuntu and posed the question “What’s your fave – KDE or Gnome?” Clearly, I underestimated just how meaningful these terms were. Square Eyes’ feedback was echoed by Piere who wrote “A lot of people talk about KDE vs GNOME. Can you please do an article on the differences in simple terms for a noive user? Can they both run the same programs? Is one quicker? More secure? Better supported?” Similarly, Third World said “I too wish someone would put the whole GNOME/KDE/Ubuntu/Red Hat ‘speak’ into some analogy that Windows users can get their minds around. It is all terribly confusing. Is GNOME a distro, or some feature within a distro?” One distinctive of the Linux community is how willing it is to help each other. I’m pleased that within the feedback section of my blog we saw other readers coming to the fore. Jeromeyrome offered up a quick Linux primer giving a couple of sentences on what “distributions” means and what “Windows Managers” are. Hamish followed soon after with a nice and straightforward couple of paragraphs on the history of Linux windows managers and some points of distinction between KDE and GNOME. Hamish was especially well received. Enough ado! All this talk about KDE and GNOME still doesn’t tell you what they actually are. For that, dear reader, let’s go on a history trip. CONTINUED |
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