[kwlug-disc] First observations on Lucid Lynx

[Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)]

On Sunday 02 May 2010 03:13:43 pm Raul Suarez wrote:
> This is an honest question. Not a rhetorical question  or attempt to wakeup
>  the desktop fanboy demons. What do you find alluring about KDE?

I don't like the way Gnome apps work. I don't like the way Gnome apps "feel". 
I don't like the way Gnome apps look. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I 
feel like I'm being patronized whenever I'm using a Gnome system.

> Every now and then I try a K distro, I like how it looks, I like the
>  consistency of the apps, but after I find the same annoyances that made me
>  switch I go back to Mint with Gnome. Knowing that you prefer it: I'd like
>  to know what I'm missing.

See, that's exactly how I feel about Gnome. :-)  Every now and again I try it 
out, and in fact I've been running it on my desktop since 9.04 (it's still 
9.04, I haven't upgraded) but I still prefer KDE.

I like the one menu/system bar at the bottom. I like the K menu. I like the 
way the config files are stored and manipulated. I even kind of like Plasma now, 
although that's still a love-hate relationship. I like DCOP and now D-BUS, 
which is something KDE had way before Gnome. I really like how everything is 
highly integrated in KDE.

For a long long time I hated Gnome because of how the toolkit worked. It was a 
royal pain to code for, and I found I could hack on KDE applications. I found 
myself frustrated whenever I tried to do that with any Gnome app.

Konsole and Kate and Konqueror are my main apps, although I've been using 
Chrome as my primary browser for the last few months, so the Konqueror spell 
has been broken. :-)

> Maybe if I list those annoyances you can show me workarounds or just make
>  me realize that I think differently than the KDE devs. Please everyone,
>  this is not a critique of KDE, Maybe a critique of my self for not having
>  been able to overcome these annoyances. - The menu requires too many
>  clicks to do something. Hovering the mouse does nothing.- Option pages are
>  too cluttered. I like having all those options, just not showing them all

I feel the two bars are annoying. It takes up more space than a combined bar, 
and I'm constantly looking in the wrong spot. Obviously that's because of what 
I'm used to, but as I've mentioned I've been running Ubuntu 9.04 on my 
workstation since it came out and have been bouncing between it and Kubuntu on 
my laptop.  I still prefer KDE.

>  "over 40". Meaning that a person over 40 should be able to read it without
>  straining his/her eyes. - Back to doing ANYTHING, requires too many
>  clicks. Due to the amount of options and lack of sensible context
>  sensitive menus.

I don't want a system designed for 40 year olds, I want a system designed for 
me and around my needs. Maybe my tastes will change. I'm certain of it, in 
fact, but for the time being, and for many, many years now, I've had a strong 
preference for the way KDE does things.

In the end though, that's what it's all about, isn't it? What you prefer? I 
have a strong feeling I wouldn't be using Linux if Gnome was what I had to 
work in.

-A.