KDE vs GNOME

[deanjo]

Those are all better indicators for user preference, indeed. The openFATE results are useless because of vote stuffing, unknown participants, and press coverage (I think that may have caused the imbalance between the GNOME and the KDE polls).

OK you really don't know what went on. I suggest reading the ML's to find out what went on. There was no ballot stuffing, voters are all known, you can't anon vote on openFATE. It's not even a simple task of clearing out a cookie to vote again.

How do you figure I implied such a thing?
It's all a matter of who you want to attract, and then formulating a strategy. Ubuntu tries to be "Linux for human beings", which means normal users without a technical background. I guess the decision for a DE was influenced by that, as well as where Canonical focuses its resources (user experience).

Would you mind pointing out where KDE only targets the "tech savy"? (BTW I know a lot of non tech savy people using KDE)

[Remco]

OK you really don't know what went on. I suggest reading the ML's to find out what went on. There was no ballot stuffing, voters are all known, you can't anon vote on openFATE. It's not even a simple task of clearing out a cookie to vote again.

I can create 10 accounts and vote 10 times, can I not? The voters are unknown, because anyone can sign up. I have just voted (for KDE, against GNOME), and I have never used OpenSuse. This means there is no way to know whether the voting group is representative of OpenSuse users. If a KDE site mentions the KDE feature request on openFATE, how do you think that will affect the vote results?

Would you mind pointing out where KDE only targets the "tech savy"? (BTW I know a lot of non tech savy people using KDE)

I don't say that KDE only targets "tech savy". I said that Ubuntu may have decided to use GNOME because it excels at being understandable for non-technical users.

[deanjo]

I can create 10 accounts and vote 10 times, can I not? The voters are unknown, because anyone can sign up. I have just voted (for KDE, against GNOME), and I have never used OpenSuse. This means there is no way to know whether the voting group is representative of OpenSuse users. If a KDE site mentions the KDE feature request on openFATE, how do you think that will affect the vote results?

Sure you can signup with that many accounts if you wish to go through the trouble. That loophole works just as well for Gnome users as it does for KDE users. It's easy to spot duplicate IP's as well. So far however the openFATE features jive with the other means of gathering stats like the survey's, history of downloads, etc.

Like the old saying goes "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck...."

It's a situation where Occam's razor should be applied.

[L33F3R]

ill push my 2 cents. I only use 2 kde apps. Kmess and K3B. Amsn competes heavily with Kmess and brasero is nice n' clean. On general terms, KDE based apps suck. Mind you alot of Gnome apps suck aswell.

Now I just tried 4.3 and i must say i am pleased. It is still not nearly as stable as gnome but finally the eye candy is usable.

unfortunately its still gnome for me.

[deanjo]

unfortunately its still gnome for me.

You lie, you use xpde

http://www.xpde.com/

[rbmorse]

ill push my 2 cents. I only use 2 kde apps. Kmess and K3B. Amsn competes heavily with Kmess and brasero is nice n' clean. On general terms, KDE based apps suck. Mind you alot of Gnome apps suck aswell.

Now I just tried 4.3 and i must say i am pleased. It is still not nearly as stable as gnome but finally the eye candy is usable.

unfortunately its still gnome for me.

You should add Krusader to that list.

[energyman]

Not really: Gnome is the only GUI that even your grandma could learn, that is usability tested and never breaks anything. It's a safe and smart choice.

However on the feature and technological side Gnome is an utter and complete failure.

That said; I'd rather run XFCE (netbook) if I wanted a stripped down feature set and KDE4 if I wanted a modern 21st century quality desktop (desktop pc), which is what I am running right now (4.3).

and that is wrong.

KDE is easy enough, even a 5 year old can use it. If the average gnome user is dumber than a 5 year old ...

http://neverendingo.blogspot.com/2009/08/5-years-old-kde-user-computer-abilities.html

[deanjo]

and that is wrong.

KDE is easy enough, even a 5 year old can use it. If the average gnome user is dumber than a 5 year old ...

http://neverendingo.blogspot.com/200...abilities.html

Ya my kids have been using KDE since they were barely old enough to get themselves up on the chair in front of the computer. That spans back to early KDE 3 days. In fact my niece with Down's syndrome has no issues with it either.

[Remco]

and that is wrong.

KDE is easy enough, even a 5 year old can use it. If the average gnome user is dumber than a 5 year old ...

http://neverendingo.blogspot.com/200...abilities.html

Right. You do realize that this boy has exceptional talents?

So, the story is that my nephew, who?s 5 y.o right now, has been using Linux and Windows since always and can explain you what?s the difference between them and how to select one or the other in GRUB?s menu?. The first day he had computer classes at school teachers simply got amazed of his computer abilities.

Somewhere in the world, a 5-year-old is doing piano concerts. Somewhere else, a 5-year-old is riding a motorcycle. That doesn't mean either is easy.

[Remco]

Ya my kids have been using KDE since they were barely old enough to get themselves up on the chair in front of the computer. That spans back to early KDE 3 days. In fact my niece with Down's syndrome has no issues with it either.

Maybe children and computers is not that exceptional after all (or you have 3 exceptional family members ).

For children the difference between Windows, KDE, GNOME, DOS, and Bash may be less of a problem than for adults. Especially young children who can't read will be drowned in stuff they don't understand. Spatial memory is key here. As long as things stay in the same place, they can find it again and again. But much of the UI's feature discovery design depends on users being able to read. So whatever DE children may use, it will always be a challenge for them to find a way to accomplish an unfamiliar task.

Hey, a screen reader would help a lot here. I wonder why I've never seen accessibility features being used by small children. (Oh I know... they don't know where to look for them.) Maybe a screen reader should be active by default. Wouldn't that be cool?