4 ms·

Interesting take. I haven't spent enough time in Gnome or KDE to really know. What things/features do you enjoy about them, that are missing from windows 10?

ThePhysicist 6y ago
Hard to say, as a power user I of course enjoy having all the great tooling below the surface, like a proper shell and the ability to easily run all kinds of services like databases. Having a package manager like apt is also great, as most software can be installed/uninstalled/upgraded with a single command. Regarding the UI: The KDE UI is just very discreet and doesn't get in the way, and there are a ton of small productivity features that are really handy (multiple workspaces, mouse and keyboard gestures, widgets, highly configurable panels, different themes etc.). Windows feels quite limited and slow in comparison (I also run it on the laptop for things like gaming and Powerpoint), sometimes e.g. the explorer will take several seconds to open and the UI can be sluggish without reason. I think Windows 10 was really innovative and great when it came out, it didn't improve much since then IMHO. On the other hand, Linux WMs like KDE or Gnome constantly evolve and get better since they are not governed by a central authority that needs to worry about commercial interests.
brimstedt 6y ago
I've been using windows, Macos and KDE extensively. I by far prefer KDE. I think things work pretty much as well on Linux/KDE as they do on Mac/win. The apple mantra "it just works" is just not true. With Linux/KDE I get extensibility and can make the platform streamlined to my use cases. That said, it's not perfect, but the amount of wtf/day is less on Linux for me. One simple example is the file dialog that is a disaster in gnome and Macos. Windows so so, KDE it's good. The goal to simplify things for end users that runs deep on Macos and gnome I think makes things more unusable than simple and clear. The quick navigation between windows is another example where I really don't understand how people can work efficiently on Mac. On Linux I can easily jump between windows, have virtual desktops with organised applications. On vanilla Mac you have cumbersome keyboard navigation and have to switch to one app before you can switch to the right window of that app. I'll stop ranting now.
- rstuart4133 6y ago
  > I'll stop ranting now. If you can just rant for a little longer, I'll be eternally grateful. Rant Topic: how to get KDE to run under Wayland on Debian Bullseye. KDE on Wayland is shipping in Bullseye now. But Debian's old system of choosing a window manager, /etc/alternatives, only appears to work for X. No clues under /usr/share/doc, no one on IRC #debian has a clue either, and I'm right out of ideas. Sadly my HDMI port works only on Wayland, not X. So unless I can get KDE working, it's Gnome3 for me. Gnome3's titlebar and I aren't compatible.
skinkestek 6y ago
Both: Performance. Java compiles in 30% shorter time. Probably also true for .Net but I haven't checked. Running smaller apps is also noticeably quicker on Linux. Once I benchmarked a hello world .Net app on both a new Windows and in a VirtualBox VM on the same machine. The difference is in the 10x or 100x range. This is especially obvious when working with anything that uses git. On Linux it happens as you lift your hand from enter. On Windows you can wait a couple of seconds. Compared to Gnome, I feel KDE treats me like an adult. Gnome wants to tell me how things are supposed to be. In KDE everything is configurable (so use something with sane defaults like KDE Neon).

ThePhysicist 6y ago

Hard to say, as a power user I of course enjoy having all the great tooling below the surface, like a proper shell and the ability to easily run all kinds of services like databases. Having a package manager like apt is also great, as most software can be installed/uninstalled/upgraded with a single command. Regarding the UI: The KDE UI is just very discreet and doesn't get in the way, and there are a ton of small productivity features that are really handy (multiple workspaces, mouse and keyboard gestures, widgets, highly configurable panels, different themes etc.). Windows feels quite limited and slow in comparison (I also run it on the laptop for things like gaming and Powerpoint), sometimes e.g. the explorer will take several seconds to open and the UI can be sluggish without reason. I think Windows 10 was really innovative and great when it came out, it didn't improve much since then IMHO. On the other hand, Linux WMs like KDE or Gnome constantly evolve and get better since they are not governed by a central authority that needs to worry about commercial interests.

brimstedt 6y ago

I've been using windows, Macos and KDE extensively. I by far prefer KDE. I think things work pretty much as well on Linux/KDE as they do on Mac/win. The apple mantra "it just works" is just not true. With Linux/KDE I get extensibility and can make the platform streamlined to my use cases. That said, it's not perfect, but the amount of wtf/day is less on Linux for me. One simple example is the file dialog that is a disaster in gnome and Macos. Windows so so, KDE it's good. The goal to simplify things for end users that runs deep on Macos and gnome I think makes things more unusable than simple and clear. The quick navigation between windows is another example where I really don't understand how people can work efficiently on Mac. On Linux I can easily jump between windows, have virtual desktops with organised applications. On vanilla Mac you have cumbersome keyboard navigation and have to switch to one app before you can switch to the right window of that app. I'll stop ranting now.

rstuart4133 6y ago
> I'll stop ranting now. If you can just rant for a little longer, I'll be eternally grateful. Rant Topic: how to get KDE to run under Wayland on Debian Bullseye. KDE on Wayland is shipping in Bullseye now. But Debian's old system of choosing a window manager, /etc/alternatives, only appears to work for X. No clues under /usr/share/doc, no one on IRC #debian has a clue either, and I'm right out of ideas. Sadly my HDMI port works only on Wayland, not X. So unless I can get KDE working, it's Gnome3 for me. Gnome3's titlebar and I aren't compatible.

skinkestek 6y ago

Both: Performance. Java compiles in 30% shorter time. Probably also true for .Net but I haven't checked. Running smaller apps is also noticeably quicker on Linux. Once I benchmarked a hello world .Net app on both a new Windows and in a VirtualBox VM on the same machine. The difference is in the 10x or 100x range. This is especially obvious when working with anything that uses git. On Linux it happens as you lift your hand from enter. On Windows you can wait a couple of seconds. Compared to Gnome, I feel KDE treats me like an adult. Gnome wants to tell me how things are supposed to be. In KDE everything is configurable (so use something with sane defaults like KDE Neon).