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Gnome has a completely different workflow than KDE. Gnome is the reason why I use Linux. If I had to use KDE I would stay with Windows, the workflow has the sam

Gnome has a completely different workflow than KDE. Gnome is the reason why I use Linux. If I had to use KDE I would stay with Windows, the workflow has the same logic, is almost the same, except that with Windows I have no restrictions with applications.

xcdzvyn 3y ago
I'm almost the opposite. If I had to use Linux with GNOME, I'd just use macOS instead. The Linux desktop needs a shtick. Maybe when desktop cubes make a comeback we can make peace :)
- realusername 3y ago
  GNOME might look a bit macOS-like from far away but it's really not when using it. I personally hate macOS but do love GNOME.
  - l72 3y ago
    I agree, especially when it comes to window management and virtual desktops. I have been running Linux desktop since the late 90s and used A LOT of different desktops and window managers. I remember when gnome 2 came out and everyone hated it! (sound familiar?) For work, I have my desktop running gnome and I have a macbook that I also use when traveling or at the office. I find my productivity on mac os drops with its absolutely terrible window management and terrible virtual desktop implementation. I instead run fedora in a UTM VM fullscreen and only use mac as a "host" for the VM. Gnome (with version 3) required a change in how you use it as a desktop. In gnome 2 days, I used to have a grid of virtual desktops and maybe always assigned email to 1, chat to 2, etc. The task bar was heavily used and important. But with Gnome > 3, I really love the dynamic virtual desktops. Every task I am working gets is own virtual desktop. As I finish a task and close windows with that task, that virtual desktop goes away. If I have a long running multi-day task, that virtual desktop with windows associated with it stay open for that whole duration. Only things related to that task are on the virtual desktop. I might have 25 browser tabs open in total, but 3 of them are tied to a specific task on the firefox window on desktop 2, 5 are tied to another firefox window on desktop 5 and so on. Everything is _very_ keyboard driven, and I don't ever touch a mouse to interact with gnome itself. This makes task switching really nice. There is no need for a tab bar with 50 items on it, or a browser window with 50+ tabs open. One thing I do miss from some of the older window managers, is the ability for the window manager to do grouping/tabbing. I'd prefer if now application implemented tabs, and instead the window manager did it.
    - int_19h 3y ago
      It's great that it works for your workflow. The problem is that GNOME is very opinionated in that the workflows they enable are the right workflows for everyone, and resist any configurability that would actually make it usable for the rest of us. Of course, one can always use a different DE, but there's always friction in not going with what the distro you're using picked as their default (and tends to support better in practice). I think a lot of GNOME hate is coming from the users who feel that a DE that does not adequately reflect their workflow is being pushed on them so aggressively by their distros.
- veidr 3y ago
  The desktop cube is back[1] in KDE Plasma 6! :-D Oh, did you mean the other kind of desktop cube... [1] https://kde.org/announcements/megarelease/6/cube.webm https://kde.org/announcements/megarelease/6/cube.webm
- rpgbr 3y ago
  Funnily enough, Plasma 6 brings back the cube effect[1]. [1] https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-kde-wayland-color-management-the-desktop-cube-returns-and-optional-shadows-in-spectacle/ https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-...
anneessens 3y ago
Interesting. For me, Linux would be unusuable if I had to use GNOME. What do you like specifically about GNOME compared to Plasma or Windows?
- jklinger410 3y ago
  > Linux would be unusuable if I had to use GNOME. This type of hyperbole is what feeds the DE wars. GNOME is very usable, and if it's not, you don't know how to use a computer at all.
  - anneessens 3y ago
    Well it's not a hyperbole, my productivity would suffer immensely if I had to use GNOME. And since GNOME doesn't offer much customisation, I couldn't make it work better for me, which is why I use Plasma. That doesn't mean I hate GNOME or something and I'm glad it exists for the people who do like its approach.
    - criddell 3y ago
      In what ways does Gnome hamper your productivity? Are you really using the DE a lot? Most of my day is spent in applications. I launch an application and that's where I'm spending my time. I'm not using the desktop environment all that much. I really don't find much difference working in Windows, macOS, KDE or Gnome or even iPadOS as far as interacting with the graphical environment goes.
      - anneessens 3y ago
        Yes, absolutely. Perhaps not directly with the DE itself, but the DE affects how I work. On Plasma, I have it set up so I have all title bars hidden and I use custom keybinds to close, minimize and maximize windows, which saves screen space and reduces clutter. On GNOME you cannot minimize windows at all if I remember correctly. I have virtual desktops disabled and only use one desktop to manage all of my windows, while GNOME fundamentally works around using multiple virtual desktops as far as I know. GNOME doesn't have a system tray, which I find essential. For example, I can see just by looking if Discord has an unread notification. Or I can close OBS to the system tray without quiting the application, which reduces visual clutter. I know you can add this with an extension, but I'm just referring to vanilla GNOME. I often use KRunner to temporarily write something while still seeing the contents of my screen, while GNOME's equivalent is full screen I believe. I'm sure there are many other ways, but these are the ones I can quickly think of.
leeoniya 3y ago
> except that with Windows I have no restrictions with applications. what you do get with windows is a UI that changes, resets, and ignores your previous customizations with every os update, which you cannot stop/prevent. even group policy hacks and regedits wont always save you. LTSC is apparently a thing but you cannot pay anyone money to actually get that license as an individual user. dark patterns to prevent users from creating offline, local-only accounts. you have to yank the ethernet cable now during initial setup to get the option not to log in to your ms cloud account? (or some insane nonsense like that) plus more cloud services that i didnt ask for with each update, more things bloating ram and disk/cpu on startup, more telemetry. and ads. always. more. ads. ads in the browser, ads in the start menu, ads in the widgets. windows decided one day to auto-update and fuck up my linux dual boot setup. after more than two decades of windows following DOS, i couldnt do it any more with this omnipresent Windows SaaS shit. tried Mint and Manjaro for a while, then switched to EndeavourOS + KDE/Plasma and never looked back. everything is just faster on linux and nothing changes out from under me in the past 3 years of daily rolling updates.
hannofcart 3y ago
I moved from Gnome to KDE recently. There is likely no desktop environment that's more customisable while at the same time being full batteries included as KDE is. And I've probably tried them sll: Gnome, XFCE, Enlightenment, Cinnamon, Mate, i3wm... If there's a flow you've grown accustomed to, you can most probably replicate that in KDE.
graemep 3y ago
Can you explain that? How is the workflow like Windows? All I can see is some superficially Windows like defaults (good for newbies) in the initial look. KDE has a lot of stuff very different from Windows - or at least Windows at the time I switched. Transparent sftp in all applications, highly customisable (I currently use window tiling, have a small icon only task switcher I hard use, window titles in the panel, I use multiple desktops, KRunner to launch/switch apps.....), very different file managers from windows, a excellent text editor that integrates nicely with everything else.
KronisLV 3y ago
I honestly love the variety of options, everyone can find something suitable for themselves! Personally, XFCE is a good fit for me often (especially on older devices), or maybe something like Cinnamon since it mostly gets out of the way and lets me work. Then again, I also enjoyed Unity when it was the default in Ubuntu, unlike a lot of folks hah.
juujian 3y ago
That maybe be true if Windows (and maybe KDE) 10-15 years ago, I don't think that's true anymore today. KDE has really grown into itself.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

xcdzvyn 3y ago

I'm almost the opposite. If I had to use Linux with GNOME, I'd just use macOS instead. The Linux desktop needs a shtick. Maybe when desktop cubes make a comeback we can make peace :)

realusername 3y ago
GNOME might look a bit macOS-like from far away but it's really not when using it. I personally hate macOS but do love GNOME.
- l72 3y ago
  I agree, especially when it comes to window management and virtual desktops. I have been running Linux desktop since the late 90s and used A LOT of different desktops and window managers. I remember when gnome 2 came out and everyone hated it! (sound familiar?) For work, I have my desktop running gnome and I have a macbook that I also use when traveling or at the office. I find my productivity on mac os drops with its absolutely terrible window management and terrible virtual desktop implementation. I instead run fedora in a UTM VM fullscreen and only use mac as a "host" for the VM. Gnome (with version 3) required a change in how you use it as a desktop. In gnome 2 days, I used to have a grid of virtual desktops and maybe always assigned email to 1, chat to 2, etc. The task bar was heavily used and important. But with Gnome > 3, I really love the dynamic virtual desktops. Every task I am working gets is own virtual desktop. As I finish a task and close windows with that task, that virtual desktop goes away. If I have a long running multi-day task, that virtual desktop with windows associated with it stay open for that whole duration. Only things related to that task are on the virtual desktop. I might have 25 browser tabs open in total, but 3 of them are tied to a specific task on the firefox window on desktop 2, 5 are tied to another firefox window on desktop 5 and so on. Everything is _very_ keyboard driven, and I don't ever touch a mouse to interact with gnome itself. This makes task switching really nice. There is no need for a tab bar with 50 items on it, or a browser window with 50+ tabs open. One thing I do miss from some of the older window managers, is the ability for the window manager to do grouping/tabbing. I'd prefer if now application implemented tabs, and instead the window manager did it.
  - int_19h 3y ago
    It's great that it works for your workflow. The problem is that GNOME is very opinionated in that the workflows they enable are the right workflows for everyone, and resist any configurability that would actually make it usable for the rest of us. Of course, one can always use a different DE, but there's always friction in not going with what the distro you're using picked as their default (and tends to support better in practice). I think a lot of GNOME hate is coming from the users who feel that a DE that does not adequately reflect their workflow is being pushed on them so aggressively by their distros.
veidr 3y ago
The desktop cube is back[1] in KDE Plasma 6! :-D Oh, did you mean the other kind of desktop cube... [1] https://kde.org/announcements/megarelease/6/cube.webm https://kde.org/announcements/megarelease/6/cube.webm
rpgbr 3y ago
Funnily enough, Plasma 6 brings back the cube effect[1]. [1] https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-kde-wayland-color-management-the-desktop-cube-returns-and-optional-shadows-in-spectacle/ https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-...

anneessens 3y ago

Interesting. For me, Linux would be unusuable if I had to use GNOME. What do you like specifically about GNOME compared to Plasma or Windows?

jklinger410 3y ago
> Linux would be unusuable if I had to use GNOME. This type of hyperbole is what feeds the DE wars. GNOME is very usable, and if it's not, you don't know how to use a computer at all.
- anneessens 3y ago
  Well it's not a hyperbole, my productivity would suffer immensely if I had to use GNOME. And since GNOME doesn't offer much customisation, I couldn't make it work better for me, which is why I use Plasma. That doesn't mean I hate GNOME or something and I'm glad it exists for the people who do like its approach.
  - criddell 3y ago
    In what ways does Gnome hamper your productivity? Are you really using the DE a lot? Most of my day is spent in applications. I launch an application and that's where I'm spending my time. I'm not using the desktop environment all that much. I really don't find much difference working in Windows, macOS, KDE or Gnome or even iPadOS as far as interacting with the graphical environment goes.
    - anneessens 3y ago
      Yes, absolutely. Perhaps not directly with the DE itself, but the DE affects how I work. On Plasma, I have it set up so I have all title bars hidden and I use custom keybinds to close, minimize and maximize windows, which saves screen space and reduces clutter. On GNOME you cannot minimize windows at all if I remember correctly. I have virtual desktops disabled and only use one desktop to manage all of my windows, while GNOME fundamentally works around using multiple virtual desktops as far as I know. GNOME doesn't have a system tray, which I find essential. For example, I can see just by looking if Discord has an unread notification. Or I can close OBS to the system tray without quiting the application, which reduces visual clutter. I know you can add this with an extension, but I'm just referring to vanilla GNOME. I often use KRunner to temporarily write something while still seeing the contents of my screen, while GNOME's equivalent is full screen I believe. I'm sure there are many other ways, but these are the ones I can quickly think of.

leeoniya 3y ago

> except that with Windows I have no restrictions with applications. what you do get with windows is a UI that changes, resets, and ignores your previous customizations with every os update, which you cannot stop/prevent. even group policy hacks and regedits wont always save you. LTSC is apparently a thing but you cannot pay anyone money to actually get that license as an individual user. dark patterns to prevent users from creating offline, local-only accounts. you have to yank the ethernet cable now during initial setup to get the option not to log in to your ms cloud account? (or some insane nonsense like that) plus more cloud services that i didnt ask for with each update, more things bloating ram and disk/cpu on startup, more telemetry. and ads. always. more. ads. ads in the browser, ads in the start menu, ads in the widgets. windows decided one day to auto-update and fuck up my linux dual boot setup. after more than two decades of windows following DOS, i couldnt do it any more with this omnipresent Windows SaaS shit. tried Mint and Manjaro for a while, then switched to EndeavourOS + KDE/Plasma and never looked back. everything is just faster on linux and nothing changes out from under me in the past 3 years of daily rolling updates.

hannofcart 3y ago

I moved from Gnome to KDE recently. There is likely no desktop environment that's more customisable while at the same time being full batteries included as KDE is. And I've probably tried them sll: Gnome, XFCE, Enlightenment, Cinnamon, Mate, i3wm... If there's a flow you've grown accustomed to, you can most probably replicate that in KDE.

graemep 3y ago

Can you explain that? How is the workflow like Windows? All I can see is some superficially Windows like defaults (good for newbies) in the initial look. KDE has a lot of stuff very different from Windows - or at least Windows at the time I switched. Transparent sftp in all applications, highly customisable (I currently use window tiling, have a small icon only task switcher I hard use, window titles in the panel, I use multiple desktops, KRunner to launch/switch apps.....), very different file managers from windows, a excellent text editor that integrates nicely with everything else.

KronisLV 3y ago

I honestly love the variety of options, everyone can find something suitable for themselves! Personally, XFCE is a good fit for me often (especially on older devices), or maybe something like Cinnamon since it mostly gets out of the way and lets me work. Then again, I also enjoyed Unity when it was the default in Ubuntu, unlike a lot of folks hah.

juujian 3y ago

That maybe be true if Windows (and maybe KDE) 10-15 years ago, I don't think that's true anymore today. KDE has really grown into itself.

deleted 3y ago

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