[NBLUG/talk] Kubuntu v. Ubuntu

matt matt at cfxnetworks.com
Sun Dec 30 17:51:47 PST 2007


On Sunday 30 December 2007 15:01:48 mendozae at sonoma.edu wrote:
> I'm trying to put together a laptop online to my specs. But when it comes
> to choosing the OS, I'm asked if I want Kubuntu or Ubuntu or something
> else.
>
> What is the essential difference between K & U? I'm trying to figure out
> what works best for me and my family because the three of us will be using
> it. I'm a political science student at SSU but we will all be using the
> same machine at one time or another; the machine will rarely rest. I will
> be taking notes in class. We need blue tooth wireless card for the
> Internet (or compatible) and will be using either OpenOffice, NeoOffice,
> or StarOffice.

I'm not going to lie and say I'm not a KDE fanatic, but all I'll mention is 
that in 11 days, there is a major release of KDE coming out (KDE 4.0 from the 
current 3.5.8) that could change a lot of things about the desktop and 
usability experience in general. I can't speak of all of the benefits/changes 
since it's not out yet and I haven't tried the release candidates, but if 
you're interested in trying out a cutting edge piece of software (which means 
many new features and many new bugs), keep it in mind.

As for the main differences, what I've noticed is: KDE tends to be extremely 
customisable, whereas Gnome goes for simplicity. KDE also seems more 
centralised in its development (most applications that run on the platform by 
default report back to HQ), whereas Gnome is more decentralised (many default 
applications don't actually have anything to do with the Gnome project, such 
as Firefox, Evolution, and AbiWord).

On a different note, KDE also seems to be expanding its role as a DE. For 
instance, KDE 4 supposedly takes care of hardware integration, has a 
multimedia framework, and a bunch of other things that haven't until now 
really been handled by DEs. The end goal is smoother integration.

There are other people who can tell you a lot more about Gnome than me, but if 
you want more information about KDE, feel free to ask.

Until then, a humorous look at the differences between the two: 
http://www.illusionary.com/GNOMEvKDE.html

-- 
Salud,
Matt
matt at cfxnetworks.com

Your Fortune:
If someone were to ask me for a short cut to sensuality, I would
suggest he go shopping for a used 427 Shelby-Cobra.  But it is only
fair to warn you that of the 300 guys who switched to them in 1966,
only two went back to women.
		-- Mort Sahl



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