Recently I have upgraded my computer to Ubuntu 6.06 LTS whose default graphic interface is GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment), and also I have installed in my computer Kubuntu 6.06 LTS whose default graphic interface is KDE (KDE Desktop Environment).
Historically, of both Desktops, KDE was the first one. At that time, Unix, BSD, GNU/Linux and other operative systems depended on X Window System. KDE Project wanted to create a free desktop for Unix based operative systems, but it had one problem: QT. QT was a library which at that time was under a non-free license. The GNU Project, in its aspiration in creating a completely free operative system, wanted to create an alternative to KDE and to QT. That's why it created GNOME, based on GTK (GIMP Tool Kit) instead of QT. Also, to make KDE completely free, it tried to create Harmony as an alternative to the QT library. Finally, in 2000, Tolltrech released QT under the GNU GPL, and Harmony was history. Both KDE and GNOME were both free software in the Unix world, and each competing for quality, usability, user-friendlines, availability of programs, among others.
For a very long time, while I used RedHat Linux, Gentoo Linux, and now Ubuntu Linux, I always always always always preferred GNOME. In some ways I still do. It seemed to me to be very easygoing, simpler, professional, "not too heavy" in terms of the amount of hard drive it occupies or the RAM memory it required. Also it seemed to be better designed to my needs, it was very much complete, and it did not give me too much headaches if I had problems. KDE on the other hand seemed to me have been stuck for a very long while. Although without a doubt it was a lot prettier, I didn't think KDE gave me as much in quality as GNOME did.
Now, the scenario seems to be different. After a very long time I don't use KDE, I wanted to take a very good look at it, test it and compare it to GNOME now. My views about both GNOME and KDE changed drastically.
Let's begin with KDE. Right now, of both KDE and GNOME, KDE seems to be the most complex of both desktops, although it obviously still tries to make everything as user-friendly as possible. The only thing that really annoys me about KDE is aRts, which should be deprecated, abandoned, and substituted with ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture). Presently KDE Project plans to use API. At least KDE lets users change audio from aRts to whatever they want including ALSA. But with the exception of aRts, I'm astounded at the great job made by KDE programmers. Still that interface looks pretty, but it delivers more, and it is very profesional. Let me give you some examples of this:
Konqueror: Forget Nautilus, Epiphany, Galeon, Opera and Amaya. Only Mozilla-Firefox is superior to Konqueror, but let's not be too confident concerning such superiority. Firefox is only slightly superior. In fact, in some areas, even Konqueror is superior to Firefox. For example, I noticed for a very long time, Konqueror did not show some display errors that Firefox failed to display for a very long time. Konqueror also is faster with its download manager, and as far as I know, Konqueror passed the Acid2 test and Firefox failed it. And remember Konqueror is not only a web browser, but it is also a file manager and a document viewer. I love using Konqueror to view PDF files. It can also view all kinds of images, even SVGs with no problem whatsoever.
KGPG: This is another very nice feature. It has everything anyone would ever need to have a graphic interface to manage GnuPG. The GNOME alternative, Seahorse, is not as good. For instance, it does not manage pictures to confirm a key ID, while KGPG does. Also the fact that it is integrated to KDE makes it ideal to be used with KMail, in order to send or receive encrypted messages. It is not too different when we are using Evolution or Thunderbird with Enigmail.
amaroK: There is absolutely NOTHING in GNU/Linux that is remotely similar to amaroK. AmaroK, for me, is the most beautiful program ever created to enjoy music. Not even XMMS comes close to it.
K3B: I remember when I had RedHat 8.0 (if I recall correctly), downloaded K3B, and used it for the first time. It didn't go beyond the qualification of "piece of crap": it crashed constantly, sometimes even shortly after activating it. Now, I think, it is the best CD and DVD burner I have seen.
Quanta+: It has always been a wonderful tool to create web-pages, and it keeps getting better and better all the time. I hope it adds eventually a WYSIWYG interface. If it does, it will rival Nvu, which, by the way, has stalled its development for quite a long time (it has been almost one year it does not release a stable version beyond 1.0). The Nvu people are far busier making the Nvu site being prettier, than actually giving users something better than what we have already.
KOffice: Although I prefer OpenOffice.org and consider it the best free office suite, KOffice would be the second best. And one of its qualities is that it adds some nice programs like KPlato, Kivio, Krita, Karbon14, KChart, and KFormula. Of these, Krita was a very interesting addition. People have been waiting for this KDE substitution for Adobe Photoshop for a very long time. Also, it's integration of Open Document Format makes it compatible with the rest of the office suites (with the possible exception of MS Office). Even though, KOffice has a long way to go, we can notice the obvious improvements.
Kopete: Although it does not offer the variety of emoticons of Gaim and aMSN, it has very nice features, one of the most important ones includes Yahoo! Messenger webcam. People of Gaim, what the heck are you waiting for???!!!
Other Nice Features: One of KDE's nice features that makes life a LOT easier, is the fact that using Konqueror as a file manager we are able to turn a directory into a compressed file with just a right-click. Instead of memorizing aaaallll those commands to compress files, it is very simple to compress to ZIP, TAR.GZIP, or TAR.BZIP2.
Now, let's take a look at GNOME. This great desktop before v. 2.10 was advancing big time. But something happened along the way when v. 2.12 was released, that made GNOME a bit of a pain in the neck. First of all, they had this odd idea that nautilus would act better if for each directory we click to, another separate window has to open. So, if I wanted to go to a third level subfolder, I had to open three separate windows. NONSENSE! What I did was to place a launch button in the top bar to launch a nautilus browser and not go through separate windows, but to browse the directories and files in the same window.
In version v.2.12 and 2.14 there is another nightmare. Before it was easy to use the address bar in Nautilus, when it was still a browser. In fact, it really made me save a lot of time by just filling in the address where a directory was, sometimes in the very same way we do using GNU Bash (you write the first two or three letters of the directory, press TAB, and the program will fill the rest for you instantly). Now, in v.2.14, where now they have a browser gain, they removed the address bar. This is nuts!!! Apparently in the spirit of making GNOME user-friendly, what they did was to make an address bar where people click on the directory they want to go to. I don't want that! It makes me waste a lot of time. So I can no longer write the address of the directory, I have to waste my time clicking and searching for the directory, clicking and searching, and so forth. Thank goodness that with Konqueror, I don't have that problem. I save a lot more time using Konqueror than using Nautilus.
To end my rant against Nautilus, I really hate loading SVG images with Nautilus. I don't know why it happens that my computer really slows down when Nautilus loads SVG images. With Konqueror, I have no problem at all.
I still ask myself why the GNOME people don't do something similar to what KDE programmers have done. Konqueror is browser, is file manager and document viewer. GNOME on the other hand still needs separate programs to do those tasks.
Another thing I really dislike is that GNOME has not created a program to serve as frontend for compression commands. KDE has this very important feature, why GNOME hasn't?
And ... please... someone make Rhythmbox easier to understand and to use. I have given up the idea that it works for anything at all. AmaroK does a great job, not only in organizing and playing music, but also cover display and even the way it organizes music in an iPod.
Totem is good, but only if it works with Xine. GStreamer is still not reliable to watch video, or to watch movies.
GNOME-Office is also very poor these days. Before it consisted of Abiword, Gnumeric, Agnubis, GIMP, Sodipodi, GNOME-DB, among others. Now it solely consists in Abiword, Gnumeric and GNOME-DB. The GIMP, Inkscape, GNUCash, and other important programs do not form part of GNOME-Office.
Last but not least, before GNOME 2.14, I really enjoyed placing the command space in the top-bar. Why? Because I could just write the command and activate any program I wanted without having to waste time browsing for the program in the menu bar. V. 2.14 really sucks in this aspect, because each time I try to type something, it has to load all the options such as a search for Amazon.com, Wikipedia, Creative Commons, etc. I don't want to waste too much time in that thing loading all possible options!!! At least in KDE, each time I click "Run Command" I get things faster, because it doesn't waste time loading a whole bunch of options I don't want to consider anyway.
There have been few improvements of GNOME I can point to. For example, the disk mounter works very well now, better than ever. But that's about concerning its use.
It is really painful for me to write these things about GNOME, because I identify myself with the principles of the GNU Project, and the motives behind GNOME development. However, it is important to recognize merit where merit is do, and point out those things which makes a desktop a better choice. KDE is now the best desktop available for GNU/Linux, BSDs, and all other unixes out there.
Historically, of both Desktops, KDE was the first one. At that time, Unix, BSD, GNU/Linux and other operative systems depended on X Window System. KDE Project wanted to create a free desktop for Unix based operative systems, but it had one problem: QT. QT was a library which at that time was under a non-free license. The GNU Project, in its aspiration in creating a completely free operative system, wanted to create an alternative to KDE and to QT. That's why it created GNOME, based on GTK (GIMP Tool Kit) instead of QT. Also, to make KDE completely free, it tried to create Harmony as an alternative to the QT library. Finally, in 2000, Tolltrech released QT under the GNU GPL, and Harmony was history. Both KDE and GNOME were both free software in the Unix world, and each competing for quality, usability, user-friendlines, availability of programs, among others.
For a very long time, while I used RedHat Linux, Gentoo Linux, and now Ubuntu Linux, I always always always always preferred GNOME. In some ways I still do. It seemed to me to be very easygoing, simpler, professional, "not too heavy" in terms of the amount of hard drive it occupies or the RAM memory it required. Also it seemed to be better designed to my needs, it was very much complete, and it did not give me too much headaches if I had problems. KDE on the other hand seemed to me have been stuck for a very long while. Although without a doubt it was a lot prettier, I didn't think KDE gave me as much in quality as GNOME did.
Now, the scenario seems to be different. After a very long time I don't use KDE, I wanted to take a very good look at it, test it and compare it to GNOME now. My views about both GNOME and KDE changed drastically.
Let's begin with KDE. Right now, of both KDE and GNOME, KDE seems to be the most complex of both desktops, although it obviously still tries to make everything as user-friendly as possible. The only thing that really annoys me about KDE is aRts, which should be deprecated, abandoned, and substituted with ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture). Presently KDE Project plans to use API. At least KDE lets users change audio from aRts to whatever they want including ALSA. But with the exception of aRts, I'm astounded at the great job made by KDE programmers. Still that interface looks pretty, but it delivers more, and it is very profesional. Let me give you some examples of this:
Konqueror: Forget Nautilus, Epiphany, Galeon, Opera and Amaya. Only Mozilla-Firefox is superior to Konqueror, but let's not be too confident concerning such superiority. Firefox is only slightly superior. In fact, in some areas, even Konqueror is superior to Firefox. For example, I noticed for a very long time, Konqueror did not show some display errors that Firefox failed to display for a very long time. Konqueror also is faster with its download manager, and as far as I know, Konqueror passed the Acid2 test and Firefox failed it. And remember Konqueror is not only a web browser, but it is also a file manager and a document viewer. I love using Konqueror to view PDF files. It can also view all kinds of images, even SVGs with no problem whatsoever.
KGPG: This is another very nice feature. It has everything anyone would ever need to have a graphic interface to manage GnuPG. The GNOME alternative, Seahorse, is not as good. For instance, it does not manage pictures to confirm a key ID, while KGPG does. Also the fact that it is integrated to KDE makes it ideal to be used with KMail, in order to send or receive encrypted messages. It is not too different when we are using Evolution or Thunderbird with Enigmail.
amaroK: There is absolutely NOTHING in GNU/Linux that is remotely similar to amaroK. AmaroK, for me, is the most beautiful program ever created to enjoy music. Not even XMMS comes close to it.
K3B: I remember when I had RedHat 8.0 (if I recall correctly), downloaded K3B, and used it for the first time. It didn't go beyond the qualification of "piece of crap": it crashed constantly, sometimes even shortly after activating it. Now, I think, it is the best CD and DVD burner I have seen.
Quanta+: It has always been a wonderful tool to create web-pages, and it keeps getting better and better all the time. I hope it adds eventually a WYSIWYG interface. If it does, it will rival Nvu, which, by the way, has stalled its development for quite a long time (it has been almost one year it does not release a stable version beyond 1.0). The Nvu people are far busier making the Nvu site being prettier, than actually giving users something better than what we have already.
KOffice: Although I prefer OpenOffice.org and consider it the best free office suite, KOffice would be the second best. And one of its qualities is that it adds some nice programs like KPlato, Kivio, Krita, Karbon14, KChart, and KFormula. Of these, Krita was a very interesting addition. People have been waiting for this KDE substitution for Adobe Photoshop for a very long time. Also, it's integration of Open Document Format makes it compatible with the rest of the office suites (with the possible exception of MS Office). Even though, KOffice has a long way to go, we can notice the obvious improvements.
Kopete: Although it does not offer the variety of emoticons of Gaim and aMSN, it has very nice features, one of the most important ones includes Yahoo! Messenger webcam. People of Gaim, what the heck are you waiting for???!!!
Other Nice Features: One of KDE's nice features that makes life a LOT easier, is the fact that using Konqueror as a file manager we are able to turn a directory into a compressed file with just a right-click. Instead of memorizing aaaallll those commands to compress files, it is very simple to compress to ZIP, TAR.GZIP, or TAR.BZIP2.
Now, let's take a look at GNOME. This great desktop before v. 2.10 was advancing big time. But something happened along the way when v. 2.12 was released, that made GNOME a bit of a pain in the neck. First of all, they had this odd idea that nautilus would act better if for each directory we click to, another separate window has to open. So, if I wanted to go to a third level subfolder, I had to open three separate windows. NONSENSE! What I did was to place a launch button in the top bar to launch a nautilus browser and not go through separate windows, but to browse the directories and files in the same window.
In version v.2.12 and 2.14 there is another nightmare. Before it was easy to use the address bar in Nautilus, when it was still a browser. In fact, it really made me save a lot of time by just filling in the address where a directory was, sometimes in the very same way we do using GNU Bash (you write the first two or three letters of the directory, press TAB, and the program will fill the rest for you instantly). Now, in v.2.14, where now they have a browser gain, they removed the address bar. This is nuts!!! Apparently in the spirit of making GNOME user-friendly, what they did was to make an address bar where people click on the directory they want to go to. I don't want that! It makes me waste a lot of time. So I can no longer write the address of the directory, I have to waste my time clicking and searching for the directory, clicking and searching, and so forth. Thank goodness that with Konqueror, I don't have that problem. I save a lot more time using Konqueror than using Nautilus.
To end my rant against Nautilus, I really hate loading SVG images with Nautilus. I don't know why it happens that my computer really slows down when Nautilus loads SVG images. With Konqueror, I have no problem at all.
I still ask myself why the GNOME people don't do something similar to what KDE programmers have done. Konqueror is browser, is file manager and document viewer. GNOME on the other hand still needs separate programs to do those tasks.
Another thing I really dislike is that GNOME has not created a program to serve as frontend for compression commands. KDE has this very important feature, why GNOME hasn't?
And ... please... someone make Rhythmbox easier to understand and to use. I have given up the idea that it works for anything at all. AmaroK does a great job, not only in organizing and playing music, but also cover display and even the way it organizes music in an iPod.
Totem is good, but only if it works with Xine. GStreamer is still not reliable to watch video, or to watch movies.
GNOME-Office is also very poor these days. Before it consisted of Abiword, Gnumeric, Agnubis, GIMP, Sodipodi, GNOME-DB, among others. Now it solely consists in Abiword, Gnumeric and GNOME-DB. The GIMP, Inkscape, GNUCash, and other important programs do not form part of GNOME-Office.
Last but not least, before GNOME 2.14, I really enjoyed placing the command space in the top-bar. Why? Because I could just write the command and activate any program I wanted without having to waste time browsing for the program in the menu bar. V. 2.14 really sucks in this aspect, because each time I try to type something, it has to load all the options such as a search for Amazon.com, Wikipedia, Creative Commons, etc. I don't want to waste too much time in that thing loading all possible options!!! At least in KDE, each time I click "Run Command" I get things faster, because it doesn't waste time loading a whole bunch of options I don't want to consider anyway.
There have been few improvements of GNOME I can point to. For example, the disk mounter works very well now, better than ever. But that's about concerning its use.
It is really painful for me to write these things about GNOME, because I identify myself with the principles of the GNU Project, and the motives behind GNOME development. However, it is important to recognize merit where merit is do, and point out those things which makes a desktop a better choice. KDE is now the best desktop available for GNU/Linux, BSDs, and all other unixes out there.
1 comments:
this is a very good review. I switched from gnome to kde a year ago. before i really prefered gnome but it seems that kde has changed.
but there is one thing, I think that konqueror does NOT display pdf pages correctly (at least not scientific papers typeset in latex) and i always open file in adobe reader for that reason. (well it is ghostscript's fault not KDE's, anyway(.
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