I use KDE on my desktop. Great apps like Kile and K3b are a big part of that.

On my laptop I use WindowMaker with gtk apps, because it's fast and light.

(Then again, I've been playing with XFCE and I used to use Blackbox... so maybe I should have just voted for everything.)

I can't give real data on why. I ran Gnome for a while but it felt "heavy" so I tried KDE and it felt "crisper". I've stayed with it for the workstation desktop. Now there's a couple of unbiased adjectives...

For my VNC sessions over the LAN I use Fluxbox - it's lightweight and fast. For anything over the internet (or involving servers) my GUI is SSH CLI

Fluxbox. It's the first one I tried, and I fell in love.

I have tried Gnome, XFce and the others, but I still like Fluxbox. I do however use KDE on my laptop, but it doesn't get used often because of wireless issues.

And since others have posted what they use remotely, mine would be SSH CLI also.

I have given all the options a good fair try on more than one occasion. I chose KDE and XFce.

I run KDE on my laptop which has 256MB of RAM. It's still faster than Windows even before I stripped it a little. I used to use GNOME for the first few weeks of linux but I am a hardcore keyboard-shortcut guy. With the exception of like two things, I can put a keyboard shortcut to anything I want to do in KDE. I almost never go into the kde menu at all. I don't have this power with the other environments. For me, it's just more customizable. I feel like I can do the most with it.

I run XFce on my desktop because it has 160MB of RAM. With Slackware, I have had success running KDE on this machine (probably because of the large swap file and the 1.2GHz processor) but it just doesn't scream along like I know it can running slackware. The thought of putting GNOME on this machine made me sick to my stomach because I don't like GTK at all. But XFce does so well on this machine and it has a unique quality to it so it's a winner. Plus it moves so fast... and as a part-time server, I save disk space by not installing KDE.

I have tried to use the other environments. I find them to be ridiculous for my taste. Of the remaining three on the poll list, I can use Fluxbox but I found it unreasonably difficult to personalize. I just cannot get used to it. The others are right out.

Fluxbox

Can be customized for everything including a little
eyecandy (adesklets). Toghether with XFE file
manager you make a very fast system. Doesn't
look like windows or anything else. Fast launch;
just type `startx' and the next second you are up
and running. I love to customize the menu, just
for fun.

-W

fluxbox.

started using kde becuse i liked all the eyecandy, then i realized that kde was drag-ass slow and bloated. played with gnome, xfce, icewm, wm, elightenment, and a few other smaller ones. nothing compares to the configurability and the lighting fast speed of flux though.

You can still run k3b and other kde progs from fluxbox and other wms

Yeah, I've never liked doing that. If I don't run KDE I don't even install the libraries. I just strip it all the way down to gtk.

fluxbox. but i'm switching to openbox. supposedly openbox adheres better to standards (and doesn't have that taskbar thing that i never use ).

I use KDE and I am unashamed to share that I am spoiled from Windows. Occasionally I enjoy playing geek and I think my web site verifies that, but from a user's perspective, I want to configure certain things quickly and KDE provides a lot of that for me. I've done a reasonable share of manually editing config files, writing bash scripts, etc., so that does not phase me. As a tech writer, I have a thing about usability and these configuration tools mean a lot to me.

When I first started investigating GNU/Linux, I was led to believe that I had to use a basic windows manager because of my aging hardware. Back in the days of KDE 2.x that was true. However, the first thing I always wanted to do with these window managers was point-and-click my way to configuring my mouse for left-handed use. KDE provides a point-and-click tool to configure the mouse, as does GNOME and Xfce (although I never have liked GTK aesthetics), but not the window managers. Of course, back then I did not appreciate the difference between a full desktop environment and a basic window manager. Still, this very basic need frustrated me as a noob. Something as basic as this should not frustrate any user. I avoided further effort with GNU/Linux until KDE 3.x came along, and then KDE started looking more palatable. Soon thereafter I discovered Slackware and its underlying lack of bloat and vendor patching, and KDE became usable for me. I also learned how to tweak KDE. KDE then was not screaming fast but adequately usable. However, each release has gotten faster and more usable.

Slackware/KDE remains slower than my NT4 Workstation, but is the fastest GNU/Linux I have installed. I notice this slowness especially upon the first instance that I do anything in KDE. For example, the first time I select the K menu there is a momentary delay before the menu appears. Not terrible, but noticeable. Thereafter the menu responds instantly. Compared to my NT4, all apps in KDE launch slow IMO, but using them is acceptable. I haven't yet updated to KDE 3.5.x, but when I do hopefully I'll again notice some speed improvement.

Windows continues to be my primary OS, but the primary reason I use KDE is usability. Regardless of what some people might think or say, I like point-and-click! I suspect I am hardly alone in that opinion, considering the success of Windows and Macs.

I was using KDE on here before I had to get a new hard drive and reinstall. I liked it because I could have multiple panels and have them sized how I wanted. I'm using Xfce now, mainly as it's quite light and there aren't any desktop icons (so I don't have to go and remove those, like with KDE). It's a shame that I can't add another panel, though.

Also, why do people not capitalise all the letters in "GNOME"?

I use KDE on Debian, but that's because I use Debian as a productivity platform and using just Fluxbox I couldn't do much with it. KDE just comes with so many good software required for a desktop power user as I am. And no matter what, KDE is the most productive desktop platform for *nix - not because it resembles Windows or it's point and click - but because it comes with a complete suite of applications that makes a desktop productive. As simple as that.

On the other hand, I use Fluxbox in Slackware because I just need a simple GUI and don't need all the desktop apps.

It really depends on what you do with the distro. For 90% of productive desktop use (you actually do *real* work with the distro as I do) you need KDE. You cannot get away from it.

What do you mean by "real work"? That's not meant to sound rude in any way, I'm just interested to know .

KDE: beacuse of k3b, amarok, konsole, kweather, kpdf, kmix and it's easy and quick to change themes, colors, shortcuts, keyboard layout, etc. I don't use all kde packages:
I use fluxbox when compiling a big package or kernel to save resources or for a change. I also like it's speed

edit: Not included in poll (standard Slackware install) is Enlightenment it's also nice for a real change
some Screenies

I too didn't mean to be rude and I'm sorry if I sounded as though others who didn't use KDE didn't do real work - obviously each user finds their own levels of productivity on the desktop of their choice. But generally what I mean by real work is that it's work that adds value... quite simply put. Not general system maintenance and such. Real work - it varies from individual to individual...

Real work in my book definitely does not including tweaking your distro drivers/kernel or getting your sound-card configured (it might be part of something more productive like setting up a recording studio, but the actual work of configuring the system is not really a value-added task. It's just a necessary chore). I mean "work" as in productive tasks, not as in configuring the system or writing a bash script to download the latest software updates (just for instance).