I was recently reading a topic on a forum where two posters were having an argument as to whether XFCE is a Desktop Environment or a Window Manager and it got me thinking, what is the difference between a desktop environment and a window manager? They seem like the same thing to me.

I think one follows the WIMP methaphor but more so with Windows and Icons....

I think one has icons, and more of an environment feel like say KDE...

and one may have the feeling of a window manager like fluxbox....

window managers provide window decorations, mouse pointers and often a menu too.

Desktop environments tend to suck the soul out your pc.

just joking Desktop environments tend to combine this with a file manager, and in the case of gnome and KDE try and provide configuration tools, they have a "desktop", that is a "board of icons", and in the case of windows ( - I don't know about KDE or gnome but I hope not) even act as a directory, letting you have files on the desktop. *shudders*. (actually I like it on windows, but only because windows lacks a decent home directory)

I think I'm getting it now, a DE is like, the whole caboodle with integrated apps and things and a WM is a kind of shell, that just changes the way it looks and feels.
So in a Windows context (sorry but I'm still new so I put everything into comparison with Windows), a DE (Gnome, KDE etc) is like, well, Windows and a WM (Fluxbox, IceWM etc) is like Litestep or Aston Shell?

kinda, a DE usually has a WM part to it, kwm in the case of kde, and erm, can't remember the one gnome uses.