What does Default desktop environment actually mean?
 

Hi, all I really want to know is this, Why is one desktop environment advertised as the default for a distro?

In my three or four months as a Linux user i have run Redhat 9 with Gnome, and Mandrake 10 with KDE, sticking to the default in both cases. I am completely aware that i could run either on either. I just wondered if there is any reason Redhat, for example, decided to go with Gnome as default.

The reason I ask is, I am planning on getting a newer distro and wondered if there would be any advantage in going with a distro that defaults to KDE (my favourite) even though i could run KDE on any distro.

Debian would have chosen gnome as
default over KDE because of the Qt-library
that KDE depends on which isn't all free
(depends on platform)...

No idea why RedHat did, maybe for the
same reasons.


Personally I don't like either ;)



Cheers,
Tink

Hey, if you're Linux-literate enough to switch from the default desktop environment, then it doesn't really matter which one is the default, right? :)

We could get into a big KDE vs Gnome war here, but it comes down to your personal preference and what works for you.

However, I think that sometimes distros will customize the default desktop environment more heavily than other desktops. Just a guess, though. I think some actually customize both KDE and Gnome to their distro.

That's what I thought, the customization i mean.

I suppose it's really a misnomer, i'm a regular user (Word processing, surfing, MP3 and that's about it), so any higher functions (programming, etc.) are really lost on me, i just want something that looks good and responds well.

My two choices are Mandrake 10.1 and Fedora 3, if the desktop environment doesn't make a difference I guess i'll just try both and see what i'm most comfortable with.

Thanks.

Hey, I beg to differ! ;)

I'd say that a distro that 'defaults' to a certain Desktop Environment will likely have more graphical 'goodies' for that DE than the oponents. It's going to give the best of it's efforts the one that it defaults to, and then give default/compiled options to the other.

This is of course, IMO, or In My Experience maybe ;)

Cool

Once you get your feet wet with linux,most will install a base system then install what you use so it is customized for you with the stuff you are never going to use not installed from the start,slackware,debian and gentoo are good for this.