Desktop Environment of the Year
 

If you're looking for Fluxbox, Window Maker, Enlightenment or similar options - they are in the Window Manager of the Year poll.

--jeremy

There is also LXDE: http://lxde.org

LXDE added.

--jeremy

KDE3 vs. KDE4
 

I would be interested in knowing if members prefer KDE3 to KDE4, rather than KDE as a stand alone category. There is a big difference in these two versions of KDE.

I second that.

I strongly prefer KDE 3 to KDE 4. I'm having a hard time voting for a DE because of this. I really rely on KDE 3's features for a lot of things, but just can't get by with KDE 4 and it's weird desktop icon support.

What about FVWM-Crystal and Afterstep?

Would Enlightenment DR17 count as a desktop environment? I know there is no official release candidate, but it is still quite stable and seems to possess all of the internals of a desktop environment (the only out-of-the-box exception being a system tray).

Gnome.

While I am no fan or even user, I would say that the KDE people have had the most guts this year (apart from the strange 'oh-no-4.0-was-only-considered-a-testing-version' comments).
Looking forward to seeing Xfce 4.6 - bound to be interesting.

KDE 4 is not quite there yet, but it gets my vote because my kids think it is cool!

Xfce obviously. Gnome is now bloated, Kde is just too busy...... Lxde doesn't know if it's Gnome or Xfce Lol!

For a lightweight DE I would say LXDE...it still in development but it's coming along nicely.

Gotta be ROX

Always been a big KDE user, switched to Gnome. Voted for Gnome for the first time.

-JJ

Another vote for Rox, especially for older computers.

Gnome is what I give to new users who ask me. I use it myself as well now.

It is seems a lot people prefer either Gnome or KDE to make themselves at home when switching from Windows or Mac. I prefer something different like Xfce. It is minimal and fast. Xfce has made a lot of changes over the years. To me KDE and Gnome did not make any changes or any noticeable changes since I first started using Linux.

More bloat and unnecessary dependencies are two that I can think of. :eek:

lxde is the new kid that turned heads

at least is the main DE that i use it for starting an small live distro and works quite well on slow (think p3@500 with 256M of ram)

also i like xfce ,

on fast machines i install all of them and sometime i switch between them
I like the new kde4.x from ubuntu jaunty jack with the new composite manager

that is the future and c++ based composite manager (even the compiz project switches to something similar)
http://www.undefinedfire.com/kde/41-42-kwin/

Same problem here. I'm back on KDE3 with Mandriva but I will not vote for KDE4 - FAR too much like vista crap ;)

Gnome for me. Altho' I have to say KDE 4.x is looking pretty good. I hear 4.2 is much more solid.

gnome and xfce work for me.

For me it is Gnome.

Hi,

My choice is Gnome

I must admit that I have been converted. I used to be a KDE maniac, but I think Ubuntu has converted me to Gnome ;-)

and the winner is... Genome. :)

I third that.

KDE 4 is nice to play with, but I still use KDE 3 for work. It has everything I need. I love it.

This poll should have split out KDE 3 vs KDE 4. I bet KDE 3 would get a lot more votes.

So do I. I don't like KDE4 at all, but I'm very fond of 3.5.*

Used to be fanatical about KDE 3.x, then became a GNOME convert...now I'm switching to xfce4. I like it because it's as customizable as KDE, but is still compatible with the GNOME themes, but it's even lighter weight. I'm not into eye candy I need something fast, simple, customizable (without too much effort).

KDE 4.x is really *heavy* compared to 3.x
Still it's good enough compared to others..but again it's really *heavy*. LOL.
Also, work out (out of interest) KDE 3.x on Solaris 10 2006 & Windows XP!

Qt/KDE: Cute Katie :P.

p.s. No, I don't know any katies
p.s.s. Yes, I have reason to like KDE besides the name, such as the fact that they have guts and I've found KDE4.2 quite usable, if a little crashy.

KDE is my choice

Xfce for me...cause of performance.
Gnome for Looks if used with Compiz

Xfce does it for me (when I use a DE, which is rarely).

I use Gnome because I Chose Ubuntu as my Distribution of choice, in addition to this concern I am attending A network plus Perpetration class at Broward College and in certian events we use Centos in some of our network Mach-ups.

KDE
 

I stick with KDE 3.5.9/3.5.10 as my every day desktop environment, but I have enjoyed experimenting with various KDE 4 implementations. I believe that the KDE 4.2 implementation is going to get a lot more followers than the earlier KDE 4 versions; it is getting better. I would not predict that the entire KDE world will move to KDE 4.2, but if there are some maintenance updates, KDE 4.2.1 or 4.2.2 ought to put any remaining major issues to rest, then it will become a matter of getting used to the differences.

By the time KDE 4.3 rolls around, I think that the usefulness of KDE 4 will be well established.

In the meantime, it is good to have both KDE 3 and KDE 4 implementations available. I give the project a lot of credit for their hard work, the guts to step out with such a major change, and the positive things that have been accomplished.

I also enjoy the XFCE project, but to me, the KDE project deserves special recognition this year for their tremendous efforts and the progress that they have made in transforming KDE 4 into a useful desktop environment.

I vote Gnome, it's always been very reliable for me and has a lot of built-in fuctionality. I don't even consider KDE 4 a DE. The last time I tried it out, it lasted a total of about 30 minutes. None of my KDE 3.5 apps would even run, and upon restarting my taskbar randomly disppeared. After spending 10 minutes trying to rebuild it out of those plasmoid things, I removed it altogether.

KDE is just like, real bad. I would vote both for Gnome and XFCE if it were possible because they're good for different things, but had to go with Gnome because it's a pretty functional workhorse for the majority of this GNU/Linux thing we're doing.

kde is definetley best gnome is realy ugly... and xfce need work but is nice
i prefer kde 3.5.9 though

I just don't get this. What in particular do you find unattractive about gnome? I like the simplicity and cleanliness of it. KDE looks sort of like Windows Millenium to me.

My alternate is Xfce, due in major part to itsd low system resource foot print.

I recently took KDE4 for a test drive and although it's _almost_ become usable, still way too slow and unstable. I used KDE1/2/3 but it just became way too bloated in 3.x versions. KDE4 had high hopes but KDE team sucks for putting out alpha and beta versions and calling them releases. Ridiculous that you have to wait for an x.2 version to even begin to think about using for day to day real work.

I've also used Gnome a fair bit off and on over the years but am ironically finding increasingly unusable ever since Havoc's ID10T Gnome fascists decided to try to make it more usable by crippling things with their "our users are stupid" mentality (yeah I know you can tweak it, but it's a pita). Been trying to be more open minded about it as of late and been using it for past several months - long enough to try and trick myself into forgetting how much better Xfce4 is - and almost succeeding in doing so until....

Recently resurrected an older box for my kids. Installed latest and greatest versions of Gnome, KDE, and Xfce4 before turning them loose to explore. The glitz of KDE4 and more fleshed out Gnome were initially attracting but they both (10 & 12) came to conclusion that Xfce4 was best of the bunch. Why? To paraphrase some of the things that caught their attention:

1) right click anywhere for main menu

2) roll mouse wheel anywhere on desktop to cycle through desktops.

3) smart and convenient window management

a) roll mouse on window title to shade.
b) click window title to max.
c) Key bindings like Alt-F6 to max vertically, Alt-F7 to max horizontally.

3) Clean UI

4) They both easily found and tweaked system settings (12 yr. old got anti-aliased and full hinting turned on w/in minutes of logging in).

5) Much more responsive.

Yeah, I know you can config others to behave similarly, but we're talking OOB configs. Granted these kids are pretty computer savvy for their age but above are all conclusions they figured out on their own. I kept out of it, but do find it more than a bit ironic that the "usability" of Gnome took a back seat to Xfce4 in their eyes.

In any case, my choices, in order would be:

1) Xfce4

2) Gnome

3) and finally KDE4 bringing up the rear in slow gear...

Now if only recent Xfce4 was ported to OpenSolaris :(

KDE 4.2 coming out today! Can't image a better DE than KDE!!!

I voted for KDE 3, which (shock!) actually runs lighter on Debian Lenny then Gnome. Takes 60MB less RAM. The KDE 4 team needs to rethink their current projects, as this poor thinkpad of mine slows down to a crawl when I try to use it.

I spent a while trying to use XFCE, and just found it incredibly buggy. This was in Ubuntu on x86 and x86_64. Might be time for another go, I suppose, but I've come to dearly love Fluxbox...

Which isn't a desktop environment.

XFCE all the way! i think its strength is not necessarily speed as most think, but usability. for me it is the natural GTK+ desktop for the Gnome base environment (gdm + system tools, players, etc).

Going with GNOME because its on ubuntu and it always works out of the box for me, I vote for this because nothing comes close to ease of use on the go.

I would also like to see a KDE 3.x option...

KDE4
 

Hi All I normally don't take part but here is my 5 cents

KDE4 Wow, bold new idea new direction showing windows we can be even more appealing than vista and all these new and old apps for xp

Stable and still getting the support from u smart people to make my bugs no more.

Linux is not my OS anymore i think it has become me now, CHOICE i like what it gives me, whether you use UBUNTU or your favorite distribution
we need to move forward

To understand what i mean find a video on you tube called (Linux IBM add)
see the little boy as Linux ,it always makes me proud being part of change and not a follower .

to all people in involved in Linux even the users thank you thank you ............for the choice never loose it, other wise we will all be sheep.

Thank you