Re: [gentoo-user] why you've chosen your desktop environment? (no war !)

[Poison BL.]

On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 12:13 PM, behrouz khosravi
<bz.khosravi@×××××.com> wrote:
> Hi. I have been using the gnome for some time(in other distro's) and I
> had no complaint. However after switching to gentoo I installed i3 and
> it is very great.
> I really love it, but I was considering to install a DE too.
> Before jumping to gnome I wanted to evaluate my options.
> I have heard that " It is a matter of taste" but think it is not all
> of the story.
> I have heard that the gentoo community is more inclined toward KDE
> too. So KDE must have some advantage that makes people like it's
> taste!
> So can you please tell me why you have chosen a specific DE and not
> the other options ?
> thanks.

I've bounced between quite a few, both straight WMs and full featured
DEs over the years. I liked Gnome pre-3, mostly due to the fact that
it typically 'just worked' and the bulkiest programs I ran being
primarily GTK based. While I liked Gnome Shell when it was in early
development, there were quite a few decisions made (*notably the
distinct aversion to allowing meaningful customization) on that end on
the way to Gnome 3 that I don't find it very appealing as it stands. I
ran and enjoyed KDE about a decade ago, but hadn't really touched it
since until recently, and it's just too heavy to suit my needs (most
of my systems are lightweight laptops/netbooks anymore). In the end,
once I ran across Blackbox, then Fluxbox, my interest in 'full
featured' DEs was pretty much killed. My favorite WM when I'm running
a truly stripped down system is actually ratpoison, while I tend to
run LXDE (and toying with LXQT now) on most of my systems for the sake
of giving a more 'normal' usage paradigm (primarily if I need other
people to be able to use the system). LXDE gives just enough trinkets
for things like battery status, multiple desktop management, coherent
configuration interfaces for themes and such, and a proper menu while
otherwise staying out of the way. I've never really used xfce or e17
much, but both seem to be pretty well loved by their users. I still
bounce between LXDE, Ratpoison, and Fluxbox fairly often (and as proof
of how much I liked Blackbox and Fluxbox, I run an offshoot of those
on Windows as a shell replacement).

I have friends that vary between liking and tolerating Gnome 3, KDE,
etc. and I can honestly say the only meaningful factor in deciding
what they run has always boiled down to taste. Sit down with each for
a week or three (as your main system, you won't get a real feel for
them if you're not trying to get real work done through them), get
them working as close to your preferences as you can, then judge which
a) took the least work to get there and b) most closely match what you
actually want from them. As an added bonus, poke around for a third
thing to score based on... which gives you the best set of features
you *weren't* looking for but *will* use.

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy