similar here, I only use 2 qt things, one is k3b and another is sqlite browser. I only enter kde in order to change the theme to a classic one. In gnome desktop, I use it to change the font setting (which is no longer needed in xfce 4.2)

I posted the thread that is linked in the original post in this thread. You can help us change Patrick's mind if you want to see a very popular and increasingly wonderful DE stay a part of Slackware.

Email savegnome@slackcare.com to add your name to the petition.

Thanks.

Well, I was Slackware user. I love it. But for some reasons, I change to Gentoo. I remember that one of the reason I choose Slackware is DE neutral. But I feel lucky I drop Slackware after knowing that Pat would drop Gnome. It is sad though I don't use Slackware anymore. I hope Pat would change his mind. People should have two options about DE. Dropline Gnome is not an option. It is third party packages not an official.

I say drop GNOME too.

In all the years I have been using Slackware, I have never once had GNOME install and work properly on the first try with either the Slackware installer, or the packages after the fact.

But KDE works perfectly every time I install it, any way I install it.

I don't think it should take a week of me fixing bugs and misconfigured options for my desktop environment to start properly.

You can't just say to get rid of one of the two major DE's from Slack just because you had problems with it. I've had problems with KDE, and GNOME has worked perfectly first time, everytime for me, but I still want to see both of them in Slackware. GNOME/KDE are both very important options to have, Slack will lose a lot of users that want GNOME, and either don't want or don't know about Dropline GNOME.

Like Melinda said, she chose Slack because it was a DE neutral distro. I chose it for the very same reason. If I had come across Slackware and saw that there was no GNOME, only KDE, I would've skipped over it and missed out on a great distro.

If gnome is dropped, what would be done with all the newly availabel time? Perhaps documentation [fonts, sound, multi-media, acpi, whatever] could be improved, but really, without a good desktop environment, Slackware is walking dead. I use xfce and other programs I use are gtk dependent, so this is an issue. Frankly, I would really like a good collection of X programs and a fast, easy-to-use window manager. As much as I admire the gnome and kde efforts, I am really application focused and have never understood why the desktop killer-apps (mozilla, open office, evolution, tetex/xemacs (huh?), etc. are not treated with more respect. I don't use kde regularly, but if it worked well and was faster, I would. My two cents boils down to this: drop gnome only if there is a very good strategy for improved desktop experience, or just drop slackware altogether.

The bad part of Dropping GNOME is that theres ALOT of packages built on its librarys. if he keeps the librarys and just drops the DE i'd be all for it because i use Fluxbox anyway. I actuly only install the Librarys for GNOME and none of its packages.

The pro and con of an essentially one-man distribution is that everything is tight and generally works well, but on the downside there is only one man to do all the work at the end of the day and he can only support so much.

Ironically I've just swapped from KDE back to (Dropline) Gnome even though I run mostly QT apps. I just hate Konqueror for some reason and Dropline Gnome seems to look much better. But even in my limited experience I can see there are some things in Gnome that are just plain broken or wrong or aren't as slick as KDE. Nice to be able to choose though.

Would I be right in saying that Debian and Gentoo are the only other big distros that are WM agnostic?

i just was about to order Slack 10. well, this discussion changes my mind. i might just change. i use window maker and gnome. i don't like KDE.... i am more of a minimalist. gnome's style is just fine for me. i have never had any problems getting gnome to install and work. time to look up a different distribution if that happens....

Well, I would really suggest that you check out Dropline GNOME before giving up on Slack altogether. I installed Dropline last night, and I have to say they've done a fantastic job. It's running much faster for me than the stock GNOME from the Slack10 CDs.

Though I'm still of the mind that GNOME should be left in, or both the large DE's dropped. Like kevm said, there should be a plan, not just a removal.

Although hashing this out in forums brings out the issues, I suspect a resolution will take some direct communication between Slackware Pat and Dropline Todd. Pat has been a bit of lone wolf.

Another option to consider is that it is all open source and gnome embraces that concept more fully than KDE. KDE uses the non-GPL'd Qt toolkit.

We as a community could do our own gnome if it comes down to it and put it on Linuxpackages.

This would raise other issues. I like to see developers gain some financial support for the large amount of time they put into their project and the community doing a gnome desktop could make it unrealistic for Todd to continue.

Todd could pick up pick up what Pat might abandoned and offer an i486, non PAM version but he would still need to coordinate with Pat. The dropline releases would be fewer and coordinated with the Slackware releases.

If it does not work out there are other distros and other desktops.

In my opinion, after much reading and after using Linux for quite a while, Slackware Patrick should do away with all the DE's and WM's from the main distribution. If I were him, I would've left Slackware's main distribution all-text/CLI based and left open the option for people to download the eye candy on the side. I would've still tested all of the WM's/DE's with the main distro, but left them out and make Slackware about freedom/choice to either go all-text/CLI or go XWindow with a DE or WM. After all Linux is about freedom and choice.

Well, that is the problem. My package install skills are very much lacking. I havn't migrated to 10.0 mostly because I really don't know how to install packages successfully. I classify my self as a "user." Saying Install Dropline is all well and good, but that is a daunting process for me. I haven't even tried to recompile my kernel or any of those other 1337 taskes . I switched to Slack because it was a good Linux distibution. It also seems to keep up with the latest versions.

Maybe Patrick needs assistance in building the distribution, or maybe he's getting burned out.

Whether or not GNOME is included, it's really a shame that KDE and Gnome are the only two choices for an even half-integrated desktop. I don't use either gnome or KDE any more and have done a lot of work trying to find programs to 'construct' a good-allaround desktop. I use ROX_filer, but even it has gotten out of hand with depends.
I really hate to see KDE win the contest, since it is SO anti-LFS and non-GPL.
I never dared try dropline -too many 'broken after dropline install' posts.
I don't agree that Open_source dictates no-duplication. In fact it seems more to dictate the opposite -just browse the projects list at sourceforge or freshmeat. The problem is that most are 1-2 man projects with no funding. A few are really promising if only the developers could get a 'push' or help with coding. Unfortunately we Linux users are not really great team-players -more of a 'pack' mentality.
WindowMaker is the only other window manager with a GUI config utility. And there seems to be a little activity at the AfterStep project.
Perhaps Patrick may embrace some other alternative - if nothing else a good collection of light-weight GTK-based/non-gnome progs would help.
We really need REAL alternatives. KDE is great, except for the bloat, the licensing, the hardware requirements, and the too-familiar_tele-tubby_WinXP feel that it gives you!

About a year back a businessman at the local LUG said "I just wish someone could herd the cats" which pretty much summarizes my sentiments/experience with linux. The real question in this thread is not if Pat keeps GNOME but if someone can herd the cats at GNOME suchthat it does not take a week + to create a stable working package.