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ANDY MIN

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Member Since: 4/2006Last Seen: 11/28/2009

Updated: GNOME vs KDE (satire, with poll)

Live Poll

Quick! Choose your environmnet!

  • KDE konverted me a long time ago
    36%
  • Gno way! GNOME is the best
    31%
  • I'm a bleeding edge man: Beryl/Compiz for me!
    20%
  • My slow machine runs so much faster with Xfce!
    3%
  • The average Joe is better off with JWM
    0%
  • No GUIs (even if it can be terminal!) for me
    9%

Total Votes: 74

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People have been arguing about which Linux desktop environment is better for years. However, we need a "rational" way to decide. So, I've put together a list of things to compare the two.

Naming

KDE has a huge dis-advantage against GNOME. After all, all it stands for is "K Desktop Environment". GNOME, on the other hand stands for "GNU Network Object Model Environment". GNU stands for "GNU's Not UNIX". UNIX stands for UNiplexed Information and Computing System (it used to be called Unices). So guess what? We have a program called GNU's Not UNiplexed Information and Computing System Network Object Model Environment. What an unforgettable name! No one will forget this one. In addition, GNOME is based on GTK+, while KDE is based on Qt. Qt means "cute". But GTK+ stands for GIMP ToolKit. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. And we know what GNU stands for! So, GTK+ really means GNU's Not UNIX Image Manipulation Program Toolkit.

Features

This is more of a tie. Basically, KDE developers think that, "If the feature could possibly be useful, add it!" GNOME users think, "If the feature could possibly be confusing, remove it!"

Mascots

Here, KDE's back on top. But it's still pretty close. I mean, it's a battle between a smelly foot that wiggles its toes (in Nautilus, anyway), and a dragon that likes appearing whenever an app crashes. Wonderful. Still, the dragon does it for me (he likes KPat).

Favorite Letter

This is a really big one. KDE programmers seem to love replacing the "c" in every single word with the letter "k" (okkasionally, they add a "qt" at the beginning), while GNOME devs like adding a "g" to every single app they make. KDE kreators also like kopying every single GNOME app available, konverting it into a KDE app, and
replacing all the g's with k's.

Web Browsers

Very big feature. Konqueror is the default applikation for KDE. It is big, has too many features, runs on KHTML, and kan't run Firefox extensions. Epiphany is small, has too little features, runs on Gecko, and can't run Firefox extensions. Tie. Of course, the argument is moot since everyone uses Firefox anyway...

Office Suite

Here, there is a big fight. KDE users have KOffice. Since KDE users have a program with their name, GNOME users have to have one too. So they created GNOME-Office. But GNOME users really like using OpenOffice.org. And some disloyal KDE users left the standard of KDEness and kreated OpenOffice.org bindings for KDE. And Mark Shuttleworth was so disloyal, he removed KOffice from Kubuntu and replaced it with OpenOffice.org with KDE bindings.

  • 29 Votes
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