A few weeks ago, I made the switch from openSUSE 10.3 32-bit to openSUSE 11.0 64-bit.
At this point, I feel the decision to go 64-bit was a good one, but I have since had concerns about the direction that KDE Desktop has charted with KDE4. So, I opted not to install KDE4 and chose KDE 3.5.9 instead. To be fair, the KDE Development Team have undertaken some very ambitious changes, some of which will really need more time to be fully worked out than was anticipated. I've got high hopes for KDE 4.x--when it reaches that plateau of stability and replicates 100% of the 3.5.9 functionality, I have every confidence that it will exceed my expectations. Until then, I patiently wait.
Out of curiosity, I decided to try GNOME again--yes, you can have more than one GUI installed in openSUSE (at the login screen, click on Switch to see your choices) . Among the many improvements made to YaST Control Center in Software Management is 'Patterns'. Selecting Patterns displays logical categories of software. Doing so, you can then simply pick GNOME Desktop and all related packages for GNOME and install together in one click.
The GUI simply sits along side the others present on your system and you can switch at will depending on your particular needs. And so I made the GNOME install and switched to it.
Thus far, I haven't found the need or had the impulse to switch back to KDE to do anything in my day-to-day activities. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Desktop Icons I had for KDE were replicated on GNOME's Desktop. A survey of listed applications, from the Panel, Computer 'More Applications', included in its list all of the KDE apps I had installed, which means that without leaving the GNOME environment you can have the best of 'both worlds'. Want to use Konqueror File Manager instead of Nautilus? It's there. Want to use KInternet instead of NetworkManager? It's there. Want to use Konsole instead of GNOME Terminal? Yep. You get the idea. Taking the best from both brings you an amalgam that can't be beat. GNOME makes it easy to do so and for the most part I find its design as easy to use as KDE if not easier in some respects. I'm feeling the integration of Compiz is better in GNOME as well.
GNOME, old friend, it's nice to see you again and I trust our relationship will last for many, many years to come.
Hat's off to the GNOME Development Team!
Blog feed
Comments Feed
Just about the time you were getting started with Fedora 1 I was using a retail purchased box of SuSe 9.0 professional which was made in Germany.
I started with Caldera Open Linux 2.3 in the late 90's. Moved to Mandrake for a time and started using SuSe with ver. 8.1. I used SuSe primarily until Nov. 2, 2006. For reasons which are aleady widely known I then moved to Debian GNU/Linux. Haven't looked back.
I test GNONE from time to time and while the UI has made improvements I still prefer KDE. KDE is about freedom, choice, and configurabilty. I still view GNOME as limiting. It seems that the GNOME folks have believed that too many choices just confuse people and therefore they would take it upon themselves to choose for us and limit our choices. This is the reason why corporations like GNOME. Less for the user to configure, therefore easier to support.
GNOME is becoming more and more integrated with MONO it seems and as such endangers much of FOSS IMHO. Microsoft sees MONO as infringing their patents and is a threat to the greater community outside of Novell's products.
KDE 4 shows great potential and I have no doubt that it will eventually equal and even surpass the usability and configurabilty of the 3.5.x series. Until then I am happy to use KDE 3.5.x on production boxes.
I guess my point is that while I prefer KDE, GNOME may have an advantage with certain applications and usages, but users can have the best of both worlds, if they so choose.
The beauty of Linux is that you get to decide what's best for you. If the pace doesn't slacken with Linux application development, I don't think that Mono will have any effect...
So, you like Debian, yes? ;)
To tell you the truth Dietrich,
I now view SUSE as an impediment. YaST was like a crutch which prevented me from learning about GNU/Linux. (I admit I was limiting myself) YaST makes some common tasks easier but there is alot YaST doesn't do and there are those who (as in my case) limit themselves to the capabilities of YaST.
Using Debian, while it also has many UI fronted configuration tools, forced me to learn a few things. I now realize that the speed, stability, and configurability of Debian is second to none.
I'm working on a review of Debian testing (lenny) AMD64.
I did install (for a brief testing period only) SUSE 11 x86_64. For those who are only interested in using their systems and don't want to have to do much configuring, SUSE is a good choice. Ethical concerns not withstanding.
Adding third-party repos to SUSE is still too cumbersome. In Debian it's a breeze. For instance, to add a repo for all multimedia needs one can use the easy cofig UI in Synaptic or simply add the line; "deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org lenny main" to the file apt.conf. Click reload in Synaptic or "apt-get update" as root in a console. That's it! You now have access to install every multimedia codec or app you wish.
I must say that I've always liked SUSE and I think Andreas Jaeger is a genius but I can't stand their benefactor Novell.
I'll reserve judgment and reply to some of your comments later.
Looking forward to your review!