Anyone that took the time to do this gets to be hardcore today.

Supposedly, yes, the default GNOME interface is very bloated, which is why I use this.

I like toys. Which is why I have KDE on my workstation. KDE4 was a Giant Step Back, but as of 4.3 it's looking decent.

For most of my target systems, I either deploy no desktop manager or fluxbox.

KDE 4 is truly half-baked. GNOME 2.31.1 (which will become 3.0 in September), however, with GNOME Shell as the default UI, is much more innovative. Much more has changed than ever will in KDE. This, and the Shell is also highly customizable. Just look here: In this screenshot, the Shell is transparent instead of the usual black. How? Thanks to a modified /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css: Several parts of this Cascading Style Sheet have been modified to take advantage of RGBA. Perfect example of customizability.

Can't give an answer because it depends on which OS, which machine, and what I am doing.

@Kenny_Strawn

I always wanted to try GNOME Shell, but I was never able to get it to work.

What went wrong with it? The build process? Then try the PPA.

Banned for assuming everyone uses Ubuntu.


Oops, wrong thread.

That PPA also works on Debian (albeit with a different syntax), IMHO. Here's how to enable the PPA on Debian if you have it (type this in a terminal):

Simply put, any distro that is compatible with APT can access the PPA and install GNOME Shell.

Gnome, because the window managers I've tried won't let me have my panel on the left-hand side instead of the bottom. KDE I just find ugly and cluttered. I mean, a file browser that doubles up as a web browser: that's like building a motor bike with a lawn-mower attachment.

I totally agree with the file browser/web browser bit. At least that HAS been fixed in KDE 4 with Dolphin, but so many other problems have replaced it, such as the half-bakedness. I mean seriously: Other than visual changes and eye-candy, no true enhancements have been made that have a real significant effect.

Yes, I do like the current GNOME interface, such as the panels. But I like GNOME Shell even better, especially, as you can see in the link, what's planned for it, such as the login screen and screen lock overhaul for GNOME 3.0. And I certainly like the fact that the GNOME community is putting social network functionality in most of the GTK 3.0-based applications, such as the integration of social functionality in Gedit and integration with popular social networks in Empathy, such as Facebook and Twitter. This will attract millions more teens, especially girls, to the Linux user base, something KDE has failed to do in every respect.

I voted for them all, because not one of them is perfect, and choice depends on personal taste.
I use mostly KDE (4.4.4), with occasional Gnome, xfce, and fluxbox sessions.