the main differences!!

I like KDE cause it has a cute dragon.

A what? I've only ever seen the K cog.

You say that as if the later is worse

I always thought the GNOME icon was a indirect meme about Richard Stallman eating something from his toe

Bottom right uses Enlightenment. Bottom left made his own tiling window manager which turned out exactly like the other tiling window managers.

The philosophies of the two DEs are diametrically opposed. For example KDE will let you customize everything, they'd even let you customize their mothers of they could, while GNOME won't let you customize anything, at least not without extensions that break every time GNOME updates.

KDE devs are also a lot less opinionated than GNOME devs. If they could, GNOME devs would question the use case of your clothes, conclude they're useless and then strip you naked. KDE devs will be fine with whatever you're wearing.

Now as you may have gathered I definitely prefer one over the other, but I do recognize some people may like GNOME for its simplicity, looks, flow and I even heard some like the lack of customization because it prevents them from getting distracted with tinkering. All in all use case depends on what you want to do with it, tho hopefully Cosmic DE beats the shit outta GNOME devs those damn pricks.

No you're right, it's mostly stereotypes that don't have any real world importance. From my intermediate POV, it comes down to GNOME being a resource hog which the 1337 H4X0Rz don't like. But with most modern systems having more than enough resources to spare, you're not likely to notice unless you're the sort to always have one eye on the system monitor pegged to your desktop. It's an argument for the sake of an argument. I use KDE btw.

I've come to the conclusion that even gnome has too many features for me. It would be fine if they were all perfect, but it's software, so...

Off the top of my head:

• Language doesn't switch fast enough when I use ibus to type Chinese. The fact that I need to concern myself with my input method because choosing Chinese actually only types in Latin characters by default is lol
• Can't use the file manager to mess with files or folders owned by root. Text editor similarly sucks, I actually sudo gedit because it just works. It is a Gnome issue because vscodium just asks me to put in my password to save the file.
• When I alt tab or super key out of a wine game, going back into it will have the alt key pressed down (not sure which key combination, but it's an issue)

In my experience, it strongly depends. In my team at work, the biggest Linux nerd is on GNOME, basically because he doesn't care where his TMUX session runs.
And I'm the guy with the most elaborate desktop workflow (tiling and 40+ virtual desktops among other aspects) and I wouldn't want to use anything but KDE, because nothing else has as many features + customizability to support me in that workflow.

But yeah, both of us started out on such mainstream desktops, then spent multiple years checking out all other desktops and eventually found different paths back to the mainstream.

I use KDE plasma because I'm new to Linux but also want something minimal system-wise. I love the programs and the interface. Maybe my opinion would be different if I spent more time with other DE's or used it as my daily driver, but I'm sold on it now.

GNOME is definitely more user-friendly for someone who is moving over from Windows/Mac. I wouldn't recommend KDE to someone who is just going to stick to using one-click apps.

Gnome devs say, they don't want you to use themes or otherwise customize it. Probably that's why.

You use a keyboard and a peinter? weak! I throw magnets over the memory chips and use a multi-meter. /l334

Enjoy your bloat, I directly put my finger on the CPU pins to feel the electrical signals.

I flick toggle switches and read the buffer LEDs.

Hackerman uses a Powerglove!

Oh no, they know about the Kult! Burn the kompound!

Oh, I wouldn't get on my high horse about that, Gnome apps used to be G- or Gnome-something for a long, long time.

Now they're just some stock generic name that assumes "why would anyone ever use any other program for music except Music, or videos except Videos?". Pretty much like Apple.

Excuse me, it's called a kult.

What in the world are you on about? Kandalf be praised

We wouldn't have Safari (Webkit) or Chrome (Blink) today if it weren't for Konqueror and KHTML! Webkit is a fork of KHTML, and Blink is a fork of Webkit.

Your mom rules.

Are there people that use window managers without using desktop environments? I thought that one is a component of the other.

I don't think you need to go full WM-onlyism to find yourself unable to relate to Gnome users. There are probably a handful of KDE users who still use Chrome, but we usually have some shame. We're not, like, trying to form HOAs in our neighborhoods like Gnome users are, probably.

$ whoevenami

It makes you spicy.

Ricing? What's that?

NO! You must pick a side and fight!

I do have both installed, Plasma seems better for gaming with performance and experimental features, while GNOME is very stable for work and, ironically, customizes better for my preferences.

EDIT: I use Arch BTW

in my experience, installing one breaks the other or at least changes it. it's a shitshow honestly

Having both at the same time may break shit. However you can choose a distro like Debian or Arch or any one that just gives you the default DE, customize it to your liking if needed, use it for a set amount of time (like two weeks, a month, whatever) or until you feel like you have a good grasp on it and if you like it, then install another one, uninstall the previous one and repeat until you tried all the DEs you wanted to try or found the one you like and just use that one

I don't think it's that underrated. But yah it's a little underrated.

i actually kinda like gnome since gnome 40 release.
it still sucks to use on small displays like laptops tho due to all the padding everywhere
also gnome's touchpad gestures and multi-desktop management is superior to that of kde.

That was me with gnome 1.1 or 1.2, when they replaced the window manager by something way less configurable.

Gnome is better on that now, but I have been using gnome since back when KDE was using non-free libraries to be prettier

Gnome probably isn't the best free desktop anymore, but I guess I'm used to it

The last time I was meaningfully using Linux was around the time of Ubuntu 8.04 - my experience was the opposite of this.

When I have the time, I'll be dipping back in on Zorin (which I think defaults to modded KDE) - I've spun up VM, and it seems like it's worth a shot... I just need to confirm it'll play the small handful of games I play, find a slicer app, and pull the trigger. Damn near everything else is Web-based or self-hosted.

You've got to XFCE it MATE. It makes you a nerd like the rest of us.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/ishgn7-NLlU?si=ox06KyNHHk35XlDL

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

I installed a Fedora KDE Plasma spin and it enabled features on my laptop i didn't know existed. It was nice. Windows 11 sucks. I'm happy to get rid of it.

Kinda depends: for me pretty much all de-s are complicated. I mean what happens when you want a de to do X? I used to go to settings/whatever, then google the problem in like 10 different ways when I inevitably don't find it. And with wm-s you just search the wiki

I thought kde users were windows users who are afraid of change.

I once installed Kubuntu on my laptop and when I booted it, it was very overwhelming to see so many options, I realized it would take me two or more days, and it feels extreme, and you also need the terminal a lot. That's why I love Ubuntu GNOME, but it's ok if you like KDE Plasma.

I only use the terminal. GUI is bloat.

Connoisseur!

Not my experience.

How is XFCE nowadays? I am on KDE for the past ~3 years and been long-term XFCE user.

IMO biggest KDE advantage over XFCE is that everything literally works out of the box - audio, bluetooth, shortcuts (i hate setting up script yo turn on/off mousepad.

I am using X instead of Wayland anyway.

Anything changed in XFCE over several years?

Mine took way less than 1,8gb. Nowadays I just use wm though. 500mb idle usage is neat

They do, and judging by their environment, pretty wealthy as well. Plus a happy family. As opposed to being unhinged enough to give finger guns to a laptop or be bombarded with "tech stuff". Great ad for gnome :)

(I'm just joking around. KDE is great too.)

cozy reindeers.

GNOME doesn't even have the settings I need to make it work.

Yo, what? Nobody ever uses Gnome without extensions.

That's such a role reversal. It used to be that gnome couldn't do half the things KDE could, and was too configurable to be easy

I really don't see the worth in hassling with KDE. Theres nothing wrong with GNOME

You won't be able to catch one on camera.

people who use macOS and FreeBSD!!

I use windows and Linux btw

If you aren't using the super key to access that menu you are using gnome wrong imo. Three finger swipe on track pad is also a great way to access the same menu.

KDE is fuckin fantastic, but it aims to replicate the windows ui and workflow. If that's what you want then I highly recommend it over gnome. But personally I don't think that desktop UX should be stuck in the early 2000s Redmond style. Once I changed my habits to use my windows button on the keyboard instead of moving my mouse all over hell to access the menu it's all I ever use. Mouse is just a fallback when the other hand is busy. I try every new KDE version because I kind of hate how the gnome devs act sometimes, but I can't get used to that workflow anymore.

I hope cosmic is great.

I genuinely don't know the last time I used the activities button, or the taskbar. To open activity view, I press super. To open programs, I search. To switch programs, I click on them in activity view

Yes, the one with great score when it comes to Fitt's law which plays a huge role in UI design. When you put it that way it seems stupid to go from one edge to the other to reach an option. In reality it's an easiest target to hit since it's huge and requires no precision, edge to edge scroll.