ubuntu-desktop vs. kubuntu-desktop vs. xubuntu-desktop vs. lubuntu-desktop vs. unity
 

What DE do you prefer to use in Ubuntu? Please explain your votes.

I've tried them all. It took a year to pick a favorite because they're all really awesome! Linux offers so much more to choose from than Windows did.

I've settled on Xfce4 because it's really fast (in fact, there's no noticeable difference on my old hand-me-down Dell between Xfce4 and the ultralight LXDE) yet still full-featured (compositing, applets, that kinda stuff, plus very cool apps). It feels kinda sorta like "Gnome Lite," actually. Much simpler though (IMO). But I borrow alot from the others... Gnome and KDE apps, and the wonderful PCManFM file manager from the LXDE project.

-Robin

Although LXDE isn't quite up to GNOME and XFCE in terms of features, I really like the fact that LXDE doesn't bring with it nearly as much extra (meaning not useful to me) baggage as the other two desktops. As for KDE, every time I try it, I find I don't really like it. It's great to have choices!

KDE here. I can't stand the look of gnome and XFCE, and how you have to go to 75 different places to configure gnome (I know it's done on purpose to keep it small and modular, I hate it though). I use LXDE occassionally, but most of my machines are robust enough that KDE runs great, so I just run it.

I'm using Openbox + Fbpanel. It does the trick for me.

What version of KDE?

Whatever is the shipping version on the distro I'm using. On Kubuntu I believe that's 4.4.4? Debian Testing & SID 4.4.5. And Arch is 4.5.

Gnome mostly. On older computers or in virtual machines, I'll use fvwm-crystal (totally undervalued!) and if I have access to a large screen (say 25" and up) and I need to do mostly text related stuff, a tiling manager like wmii or musca. KDE makes me dizzy, I get irritated by window managers that have floating menus only (say fluxbox) and I get pissed off by those that have those annoying sticky menus that won't collapse by simply moving the mouse away (like IceWM). XFCE and LXDE are OK, I just find that, for some reason, I simply don't use them once they have been installed.

Edit: oh yes, and I haven't voted because the selections do not cover my case. I always install a command line system and then I add only what I want. Here is a list of the packages from ubuntu-desktop that I did not install:

I personally like GNOME Shell (the proposed panel, menus, and overview for GNOME 3.0) and KDE (>= 4.2).

${BUMP}, as this thread hasn't been replied to in several days.

I was originally a SuSE KDE user but when I switched to Ubuntu I decided to give Gnome a two week trial before permanently committing to Gnome. Although KDE gave me a deeper level of control I found Gnome to be more intuitive for me and made the switch.

I really am mostly a GNOME user too, Fragos, because I really like the ability for fine-grained customization of the panels. And GNOME Shell is no different: you can hack the theme to do plenty of interesting things like, for instance, incorporate RGBA in the panels and Overview.

kde all the way looks far better than Gnome

I use Xubuntu, I love to use XFCE. The others just didn't feel right or they were too bloated for me.

I like Xfce because it's kinda like "Gnome Lite" for me. It runs faster on my little hand-me-down 'puter than Gnome did (in fact there's no noticeable difference in my experience between Xfce and LXDE!), it's simpler (so even a little dixiedancer can figure stuff out), and it's prettier too. Just a wee bit of compositing from the Xfce window manager, cool little panel applets like the weather and an analog clock, translucent panels (as many or as few as I like), very customizable.

Plus I found that Xubuntu (until Lucid, that is) did not ship with that troublesome PulseAudio or invasive Plymouth software (and no Mono either if that matters to you). The newest version (Lucid) of Xubuntu, however, ships with both. Kinda ticks me off actually that they include it now, since none of the default applications depend on PulseAudio... but that's a whole 'nother thread.

-Robin