History of KdeVsGnome

It's not really KdeVsGnome, you see. They both have certain advantages. They're both full-featured, relatively easy-to-use desktop environments. They can both do more or less the same things.

I happen to prefer [Gnome] because I agree with their overall philosophy, which these days can sort of be summed up by "less is more." They're simplifying the user interfaces, streamlining things. A lot of people resisted this initially, and some still do. Why are you taking away all these options from me? Why are you making my software do less? It's not that the software does less, you see, it's that you need to do less to use it. That seems like a good idea to me, quite frankly :)

[KDE] does have certain advantages over Gnome, to be sure. Their use of C++ makes KDE code a bit easier to understand (at least for me). They have KDevelop, which is a pretty freakin' sweet IDE. Their component model is arguably better than Gnome's. They have a web browser integrated into their file manager, like in Windows (Gnome did have this for a while, around 2.2).

The thing is, that that's all technology. And where technology is concerned, Gnome is catching up. Where user experience is concerned, KDE's already behind in my opinion. Gnome 2.6 was the release that finally overtook KDE, by providing nearly all the functionality with a cleaner, simpler interface.

Anyway, I don't really like the whole KdeVsGnome thing. I think they can both complement each other. Some people will always prefer the increased customisation options afforded by KDE, and some will always prefer the more streamlined interface of Gnome. Where the real action is now, is at [FreeDesktop]. The standards there ultimately go into improving all free desktop software. If anything, we should be working on improving integration and interoperability among free software, not bickering about which desktop environment has the nicest web browser (I'll give you a hint, though: they all suck!)