Linus luvs KDE

Filed under: OS Updates, Utilities, Linux, Open Source

Linus luvs KDE

by Marc Perton Dec 14th 2005

If you think Mac vs. Windows battles get nasty, you should check in on the combatants in the KDE vs. Gnome war. What, you assumed that the fact that there are multiple window managers available for Linux was a Good Thing? Adherents of each of the platforms believe they represent the One True GUI, and constantly battle for supremacy. So, when Linux godfather Linus Torvalds weighed in this week with a preference, it created something of a stir. Especially since Torvalds, in no uncertain terms, declared his allegiance to KDE. According to Torvalds, "I personally just encourage people to switch to KDE. This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do. Please, just tell people to use KDE." Will Torvalds sway any of the hardcore fans of either environment? Probably not. But he's opened a good thread on usability, which centers around a key issue: when does simplifying things go too far, and actually take control away from users, rather than providing them with a more effective computing experience? Hmm. Sounds a lot like the Mac vs. Windows arguments. Guess those Linux fans aren't so different after all.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

gezepi said 12:08AM on 12-15-2005

"I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do."
I agree with this completely, Gnome looks good, is very well intergrated and is not a system hog, but there are so few options it hardly makes it worth using.
On the other hand, KDE has so many options it seems people just add them and get to making sure everything works well together later. If I were choose of the two, I would go with KDE.
Shameless plug:
XFCE has all the options I want from KDE and is even more minimalistic than Gnome (which I like, but it isn't for everybody).

Mike said 12:30PM on 12-15-2005

I think KDE is one of the main reasons why Linux is going to continue failing on the desktop. I also think it's dangerous for Torvalds to take such a ridiculously hard-line position when he knows everyone's going to listen to him. You don't have to treat users like idiots, but assuming that all users are checkbox fetishists is just dumb. Look at the current most successful desktop distro: Ubuntu-- it uses GNOME, as does the liekly runner up, Novell's SuSE. The masses are speaking, and unlike Linus, they're not all geeks and programmers.

And forget ease of use or amount of options. GNOME also is governed by standards, something that keeps all GNOME app interfaces behaving and looking the same way. K has nothing close to this, just a mishmash of a ludicrous amount of user options.

Take any command-line utility, make it a window. Now every switch option you could possibly have if you were running the program, translate into a checkbox in that window. That's K's way of doing things. That's got nothing to do with good interface design. And considering the whole community listens when Linus farts, K is going to rise even more in popularity now, thus further darkening the future of mass Linux desktop adoption.

notnamed said 8:17PM on 12-15-2005

On the other hand, #2, when I switched from Ubuntu to Kubuntu, which uses KDE, I was actually able to change my Xorg resolution. KDE has come a long way in streamlining all the checkbox options. While some (myself included) would label "a long way" as "shamelessly copying the same 'long way' Windows went between 2000 and XP," progress is progress. (I'm looking at you, Control Centre.)

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