Of course, they have different goals, they're using different frameworks and so on. But ask yourself this. If the average Windows user had a choice of two diffe

Of course, they have different goals, they're using different frameworks and so on. But ask yourself this. If the average Windows user had a choice of two different desktop environments, would they be more likely to be thankful for having a choice, or is it more likely that they would be confused? Windows and Mac OS X don't allow much customization. Not because Microsoft and Apple are lazy, but because they want the average user to be able to pick up any Windows PC or Mac and be immediately familiar with how to use it. If we didn't have the Gnome and KDE wars, we would have likely ended with a "standard" Linux desktop.