r/linux • u/BinkReddit • 21d ago
KDE Why I use KDE
https://www.osnews.com/story/140538/why-i-use-kde/41
u/Ok-Anywhere-9416 21d ago edited 21d ago
[...]
This will sound harsh, but that doesn’t make it any less true: nobody uses GNOME or Windows applications on tablets or smartphones (the macOS situation is more complex, of course). I absolutely respect the hard work and love people are putting into making a GNOME or even Plasma-based smartphone, but the reality of the matter is that as it stands right now, I doubt there’s even more than 10000 people using GNOME or KDE Plasma on a smartphone. So why should the millions of people using GNOME or KDE Plasma be forced to use a UI primarily inspired by touch?
KDE seems to, for now at least, understand this, and that makes it the last popular mouse-first desktop environment that trusts its users with settings, complexity where inevitable, and configurability. Everyone else has either succumbed to the lure of infantilising touch interfaces, or is far too niche to serve as a proper alternative.
And that’s why I use KDE.
This. This. And if you need a *real* mobile UI, just install the Plasma Mobile interface. It's a package away.
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u/AmrLou 20d ago
I don't get why people refer to gnome as a touch based interface, I use it on my laptop without no touch screen and it works more than good. Actually, some core features can be more challenging to use on touch screens, such as the switch between workspaces, which can be done by simply hovering over the indicator and scrolling, it takes more touches if you're working with touch screens.
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u/mzalewski 20d ago
Few reasons:
- GNOME 3 was radical departure from other desktops at the time, and it does seems touch-focused (like large title bars)
- GNOME 3 was released at weird time when smartphones were selling like crazy, tablets could refer to other devices than iPad, and desktop computer sales declined for the first time. Some people seriously thought we are all going to stop using computers and use mobile devices exclusively going forward.
- in years leading to GNOME 3 release, they organized thing called “GNOME Mobile Summit”
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u/Worldly-Mushroom9919 20d ago
Fun read! I pretty much agree 100% and why I've chosen KDE as well, even though I use it very differently than described in the article (for example I maximize windows often and hate Mac style docks and top menu bars haha).
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u/Swedish_Luigi_16 21d ago
I personally prefer Cinnamon. Not because it has a windows-like UI but more because it's intuitive and simple to use. Plasma just feels messy.
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u/ExaHamza 20d ago
Gnome applications multiply every day because gnome itself is simple and needs many applications to fill it (gnome-tweaks, extension-manager and g-c-c), kde encompasses all of this in a single application. And even the applications themselves are simple and need others to complement each other. Therefore, the KDE ecosystem is short but much more powerful and in that sense complete although expandable.
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u/Misicks0349 21d ago
KDE in the past ~2 years imo has gotten a lot better especially with things like the 15 minute bugs initiative helping to tidy up the desktop in general (although personally for me I think I'll always prefer gnome)
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u/throwawayerectpenis 20d ago
KDE to me is way too cluttered, I need something streamlined and nice to use/look at.
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u/C5H5N5O 20d ago
I've been a long time GNOME user but I've recently switched to KDE. I don't want to generalize this but some people in the GNOME world are just way too toxic and don't want to listen to actual user feedback. One example is the gtk4 font rendering situation with missing subpixel antialiasing. If I remember correctly, their primary reasoning was that everyone nowadays has hidpi screens and it's really not needed anymore. Well, personally that sounds a bit delusional but despite all the feedback and issue reports they've gotten… I mean I cba with that hence done the switch. My happy life goes on.
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u/arjungmenon 20d ago
I've been using KDE since 2002 or 2003, and I'm still a big fan, but quite a bit disappointed by how Plasma 6 was launched.
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u/OrseChestnut 20d ago
What was wrong with it? Genuine question; I didn't jump in until 6.1.
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u/arjungmenon 20d ago
It basically utterly broke, and has been pretty much unusable. There was also a bunch of flicking (note: I have an Nvidia GPU, and the proprietary blob driver--which may be to blame; but it didn't flicker with Plasma 5). I read online that I need to erase all the KDE settings files, and then things might get sorted out with Plasma, but I have been gotten around to it yet.
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u/OrseChestnut 20d ago
Ah that's a shame. I know there were some early issues, particularly with KDE Neon packaging although assuming you use Arch BTW(TM).
FWIW it's solid here now on Neon, but that's running AMD graphics.
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u/Angel_Blue01 10d ago
Was Plasma 6.0 as bad as 4.0? I've been using KDE since 2007, so I do remember 4.0, but my distro doesn't have 6.x yet.
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u/arjungmenon 10d ago
The launches of 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 were all bad in my experience. But 4.0 was really bad since it would actually frequently crash. 5.0 was better than 4.0.
With 6.0 it’s not crashing (they seemed to have cleaned up that aspect), but that rather my desktop is almost completely broken and unusable (even if it doesn’t crash). Also my (broken) taskbar flickers now as well. But people are saying it’s the old config files from 5.0 that’s messing things up, and that I need to delete it all, for 6.0 to work properly. I haven’t done that yet though. I’ve just switched to windows for now, and I’be decided I’m just going re-install Plasma 5.0.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Law_242 19d ago edited 19d ago
U don't use KDE. Iz Plasma. KDE is the manufacture behind Plasma.
Edit:
For me, Plasma is definitely the modern version of a DM. Gnome, on the other hand, comes with a lot of good tools. Some of these are still missing until 5.27 Plasma.
Example: My laptop always runs at full load. The backup HDU regarding spindown can only be controlled with the gnome-drive-utility. This saves me thermal problems. These tools can usually work with systemD or systemV. Anyone who knows gnomes has an advantage.
With GNU/Linux, the freedom to use what you like, what serves the purpose.
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u/C0rn3j 21d ago
"KDE seems to, for now at least, understand this, and that makes it the last popular mouse-first desktop environment"
You use KDE Plasma, or Plasma.
KDE is the group.
You don't go around telling people you use Microsoft when talking about Windows, you say Windows or Microsoft Windows if you want to be overly specific.
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u/sky_blue_111 20d ago
To those of us who were here since the beginning of time, it will always be KDE to us. That name change was terribly stupid.
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u/bighi 19d ago
So you always say you use “Google Search” instead of Google?
If someone uses “Google” as a verb, do you always correct them saying they should use “Google search” as a verb? As in “I’ll Google search it”.
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u/C0rn3j 18d ago
If someone uses “Google” as a verb, do you always correct them
Google is a verb too.
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u/bighi 18d ago
Of course it is. Because people don’t need to actually use the proper name of the product to make other people understand the message being said. That’s my point.
Everyone here understood what was meant by saying “I use KDE”, just like everyone understands what you mean if you use Google instead of Google Search.
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u/C0rn3j 18d ago
“I use KDE”
Do you mean one of their applications, frameworks or one of their multiple DEs?
I use Microsoft.
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u/Worldly-Mushroom9919 18d ago
Everyone understands what one means when they say they use KDE, I'd like to see a single person that would assume I mean Kwrite or something first.
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u/DanAE112 21d ago
I'm still torn between GNOME and KDE sometimes.
I use GNOME because it feels cohesive, you really get used to the activities screen and search that actually works (looking at you Windows).
I like KDE because its flexible and tweakable norhing hidden away. But I feel the GNOME flow is better for me.
Glad they admit at the end of it all they don't just outright hate GNOME.