After 2y on Linux I can say with full confidence that switching from GNOME to KDE (for me) is a bigger barrier than switching from Windows to Linux ever was.
I’ve tried a lot to like KDE but I just can’t. I usually see people discussing distros but I feel like picking the right DE makes much bigger impact. I’m yet to try Hyprland though.
Considering the fact that I’m itching to get Steam Frame and VR on GNOME will likely be broken indefinitely, idk what to do.
I don’t care at all about DE, as long as it is not gnome. I run vanilla kde with minimal configuration. I tried many DEs through the years, tiling wm and so on. Now I just want something that works and that I don’t worry about. But gnome, I don’t get it. I did try it a couple years ago and my colleagues at work use it, it feels like it is hindering me. I don’t like how the application switcher works, the software launcher and so on. When I use it it feels to me I’m fighting the UI in order to do very simple things.
I feel the same way with KDE as you do with GNOME which is interesting to me because one would think that when I’m used to Windows UI the KDE would just click with me but it’s actually annoying as hell to use to me.
Something like 4 out of 10 important for me, but 10 out of 10 if I share a computer. I keep xfce4 on my computers because I like some of the utilities that come with it by default and I’m not the only person in my home who logs in. The default setup is close to what my people expect and it can be modified easily enough.
That being typed, I use a window manager after spending years adding custom shortcuts to an increasingly modified xfce setup to match my day-to-day use patterns. I got tired of dealing with stacking windows and wanted to try a setup that tiles the windows instead. It made sense at that time to try out a window manager that came closer to what I was looking for. I still use xfce4 if I want to run an x-11 type of environment for some reason, but I’m using sway for my personal day-to-day environment. I’m willing to use KDE or GNOME if that’s what is installed by default, but I’m working against muscle memory when I do so.
I use kde for my main desktop. Although I will probably switch to a window manager when I get the time to learn it.
I tried gnome once because I thought it was better for laptops (I used asahi for a little while on my macbook) Although I quickly changed to kde because I could not live with the horrible window tiling (only half and half no quarters) I realise now you can probably fix this with extentions but I didn’t get around to it.
Very critical. GNOME and KDE have two very different UX paradigms.
Usually people used to Windows opt for KDE, and Mac or older Ubuntu users opt for GNOME.
The thing is though, a golden standard DE can easily be setup to act as both. XFCE is so customizable that I’ve seen both DE types setup as UNIX like or Windows like workflow.
I’m not sure if KDE or GNOME can do the same because I’m pretty sure they focus on a target audience.
What are your issues with KDE exactly? I always hated GNOME’s lack of standard window buttons and handling multiple windows in a Mac like fashion. Also the app menu which gives me flashbacks of ChromeOS.
Gnome is where the heart is for me! It’s just so customizable, the extension framework is such a cool concept. And yes, I know, KDE has a lot of bells and whistles, and I think think that’s why I dislike it. It’s cluttered, Gnome is simple. I like the polish and the smoothness, KDE is nice for people who want more but I’m happy with less. Thanks for coming to my TED talk!
The choice for me was something that did well in gaming. Features like good VRR support made the voice of KDE plasma the only option. I’m not bothered about the KDE UI. It is nice, and similar to windows, so ready enough to get along with.
I am monitoring Cosmic. Once it has HDR and solid VRR, etc I may try it out.
It is important. But I find the ones I have tried good, and would survive if I had to use either of them. I use KDE Plasma on my main personal laptop, I have Cinnamon running on a living room computer connected to my TV (not an ideal solution, but I’ve so far not taken the time to optimize the setup) and GNOME om my work laptop. I much prefer KDE Plasma out of them, but I like the others also.
Extremely. I’ve tried KDE flavors of various distros and one thing that trips me up every single time is the workflow for connecting to my hidden WiFi network. On Gnome and Cinnamon I can do this in a few clicks from the network icon in the task bar. On KDE I always have to spend several minutes fumbling my way around the network settings before I can start using it. Every. Single. Time. I don’t know why, it’s like my brain just works a certain way and because this is such an early and crucial step in setting up a fresh install, I’ve never been able to stick w/ KDE despite all the rave reviews it receives in these types of posts.
I just wish I could have AfterStep’s mini desktop pager in a modern window manager. It was so cool seeing an overview of my virtual desktops next to each other and being able to drag windows from one to the other without switching desktops.
Very important.
At this stage, I see no reason to use anything other than KDE.
I prefer KDE. It works well out of the box and offers a good amount of customization. I tried gnome for a bit and didn’t like it.
What I like about Linux is that it’s easy to switch between DE. Just try out a few ones until you find something you like. I can recommend looking into Cinnamon (the DE of Mint).
Interesting, I feel like it is not easy at all to switch between DEs. Going from KDE to Gnome? Better rip out KDE first before you install Gnome, no way to keep them both. I really want to try more DEs but for me it feels like work to figure out how to do it without breaking anything existing.
I’ve had both installed on my machine without issues. Jumped back and forth until I decided Gnome wasn’t for me.
For me it’s pretty important because I want my computer to feel good to use, so I’ll spend quite a lot of time making sure everything’s set up the way I like it. In terms of GNOME vs KDE, I’m definitely a KDE person. Not that I hate GNOME or think there’s anything wrong with other people using it, I just don’t get along with it personally. For me it feels like there’s too much stuff in GNOME that should be part of the core DE that relies on extensions, which tend to break with updates so there’s always something that’s not quite working.
I only use one extention “Dash to Dock” and I had no issue of it breaking from Fedora 38 to now Fedora 43.
On the contrary, I had to use so many widgets and addons on KDE to get a somewhat passable experience that it took me over 5h of customising and still felt not enough… also no “Latte Dock” on KDE 6 :(
Yeah I do miss Latte Dock. I’ve managed to get my docks pretty much back to where I had them using Panel Colorizer though.
I haven’t seen this one yet, looks definitely nicer than what you can do with the dock by default
I’ve also tried Gnome very briefly before going back to KDE. I never went deep enough to try extensions, as I’d also agree that most of that stuff should be built in to the DE, and I was annoyed by it missing these features that KDE just had out of the box. Hearing that extensions exist kinda reminds me of what I’ve heard about MacOS, where features that have existed on Windows for over a decade and Linux for years still require third party applications.
I honestly think DE is one of the main reasons people don’t switch from windows.
They just want to use what’s comfortable. The large majority of people would be fine with Linux alternatives, but they don’t want to deal with the different designs.
i prefer WMs
I’ve used several iterations of Gnome, several iterations of KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, Hyprland, XFCE, LXDE, Fluxbox, and several other things I can’t be bothered to remember. I can be productive on any of them given some time to set them up.
I do have preferences though, and I like KDE on a laptop/desktop and Gnome on a tablet. I just wish Gnome would do something about its horrid onscreen keyboard.
