8-Way Desktop Comparison On Ubuntu 13.10 Linux

[frign]

Debatable

it depends your point of view. some people think that we think windows are easy because we are used to them and they are everywhere. some people think that all the users of the world should have their level of knowledge and should be using terminals too.

I believe that when you have to do with a worldwide audience, you cant judge them all claiming that "they dont know" or "they misjudge Linux distros" or "it is because they are used to M$ products"

Look at android or iOS. they are not windows-like or windows-way and they are more succesful than Windows itself. Why? Because you live in 2013. You expect some basic things from an OS. You expect visualy-modern interface first of all. You expect simplicity. Simple IS better. You expect arrangement. You expect productive environment and fast (in terms of how quickly you find what you are looking for.

You give those basic things, you gain market share and then you have more support from computer gaints. Like it or not thats the way world works.

So Ubuntu is not gateway for me. It is a train station to a alternative "city" with its pros and cons against Windows 7 (the most succesful Windows ver.)

Gateway is Zorin OS for me and Xubuntu maybe.

I could include Linux Mint as a gateway too but they seem to me as completely Ubuntu depended. For example they released Linux Mint 15 in June for what, 7 months? Without encouraging the upgrade after every release?

This is definitely debatable. Bringing in non-Desktop-OS's like Android and iOS distorts the argumentation:
A phone is not used for the normal desktop tasks.

[verde]

Ubuntu is the only GNU/Linux-Desktop which doesn't require changing your computing-habits. I would call it a gateway-distro.

it depends your point of view. some people think that we think windows are easy because we are used to them and they are everywhere. some people think that all the users of the world should have their level of knowledge and should be using terminals too.

I believe that when you have to do with a worldwide audience, you cant judge them all claiming that "they dont know" or "they misjudge Linux distros" or "it is because they are used to M$ products"

Look at android or iOS. they are not windows-like or windows-way and they are more succesful than Windows itself. Why? Because you live in 2013. You expect some basic things from an OS. You expect visualy-modern interface first of all. You expect simplicity. Simple IS better. You expect arrangement. You expect productive environment and fast (in terms of how quickly you find what you are looking for.

You give those basic things, you gain market share and then you have more support from computer gaints. Like it or not thats the way world works.

So Ubuntu is not gateway for me. It is a train station to a alternative "city" with its pros and cons against Windows 7 (the most succesful Windows ver.)

Gateway is Zorin OS for me and Xubuntu maybe.

I could include Linux Mint as a gateway too but they seem to me as completely Ubuntu depended. For example they released Linux Mint 15 in June for what, 7 months? Without encouraging the upgrade after every release?

[frign]

Ubuntu with Unity is a fantastic and professionally executed desktop. arranged, fresh, easy, productive, secure, fast. Very good job. Canonical is the only company in the world that can offer a real alternative to Windows and Mac users (and free).

All the other distros/projects are limited to a very specific user (geek) or feel incomplete.

Xubuntu is the best option for old machines. I replace Windows XP with it on many PCs and I receive only positive comments. Zorin OS is an alternative too.

Ubuntu is the only GNU/Linux-Desktop which doesn't require changing your computing-habits. I would call it a gateway-distro.

[Chaz]

Bug in Gnome Shell prevents it from direct-rendering, and Kwin doesn't enable it by default due to buggy graphics drivers (Michael didnt say he DID enable it, so we have to assume he left defaults)... both results are invalid until the bug is fixed and Michael enables KDE direct-rendering

That is helpful info, but explaining the source of a problem does not make the problem any less real! You say Gnome 3.8.3 has a bug that makes it slow, and the results say it's slow. That's valid. He's testing Gnome as it exists now, not a future version, and not a hypothetical bug free version. If Gnome 3.8.4 fixes this and doesn't add any new problems then that will be good, and I'm sure someone will do a new round of tests that gives them credit for it.

[kazetsukai]

Why would anyone use Compiz with KDE? These Ubuntuers are crazy!

I use compiz with KDE. Reasons:

• KWin does not allow for Output Device / Geometry Customization
• KWin does not detect TwinView screens as such when you are using multiple X DISPLAYs
• KDE's Event Framework lacks screen edges, mouse events. Therefore, KWin lacks them too.
• Changing KDE event buttons to a custom configuration doesn't persist sometimes, and often they just refuse to work at all.
• Compiz has a ton of useful plugins that Kwin does not. Example: Desktop wall.

The guys calling KWin superior in every way imagineable are idiots, at least when it comes to usability. I can use one of my 10 mouse buttons to scale windows in Compiz, a bug was submitted for this against KWin years ago. I can set keys on my keyboard to do things and expect them to actually work. I can customize individual plugin behavior with extreme granularity. Ultimately, the desktop behaves as I want it to, because I use Compiz.

The INSTANT these things are fixed, I'll use KWin.

Lately, I've been thinking about switching away from KDE altogether. Perhaps I'll go with something different like i3... but personally I'm hoping that Razor-Qt takes off. I don't need activities in Plasma, I don't need the extremely heavy root window/panel/widget monster that is Plasma. I'm begging for a more minimal desktop but I'm reluctant to switch GUI to something on another GUI toolkit. Again, PRAYING Razor-Qt MURDERS KDE in its sleep, much like XFCE's coup over Gnome.

[Delgarde]

I wonder how Cinnamon stacks up to standard gnome as it feels like one of the slowest around, personally I have always been using xfce on my laptop as it performs rather well and can be customized a lot.

I doubt there's any difference... Cinnamon and Shell are basically the same codebase. The screen layout and widget interfaces are different, but there's no real difference in the bits that would affect performance...

[verde]

Ubuntu with Unity is a fantastic and professionally executed desktop. arranged, fresh, easy, productive, secure, fast. Very good job. Canonical is the only company in the world that can offer a real alternative to Windows and Mac users (and free).

All the other distros/projects are limited to a very specific user (geek) or feel incomplete.

Xubuntu is the best option for old machines. I replace Windows XP with it on many PCs and I receive only positive comments. Zorin OS is an alternative too.

[alexThunder]

I just updated KDE from 4.10.3 to 4.10.4 and benchmarked both with Unigine Valley - same results, also on Xfce 4.10.

[Kostas]

Knew there was something wrong with those GS results. I wouldn't expect Unity to catch up with it until they re-write is complete and somewhat mature.

[GreatEmerald]

Yes, XFCE is pretty nice. Though KDE is also nice, just a bit more resource-hungry by default. Generally I haven't seen people having too much trouble adapting to KDE from Windows, either. And it does provide a lot more configuration options.