Summary: After starting my Linux-life as a KDE user, I ended up using Gnome for the past few years with various forays back into KDE. On thing that stands out every time I use KDE is that some of the core apps are very unstable.

I started my Linux-life back in 2004, if I recall correctly, with Fedora Core 2 (which I believe sported KDE but I was so new I really didn’t know enough to notice then). After upgrading to FC3, my sound card broke and I wasn’t skilled enough to fix it so I went distro hopping until I found one that worked. That turned out to be Kanotix (Debian based) and I used it for quite a while with the KDE desktop. I then distro hopped for quite a while, always choosing KDE when I could because Gnome just didn’t offer enough obvious control to me. Once I started using Ubuntu, I even chose Kubuntu for the longest time because I preferred KDE, but eventually tried Ubuntu (Gnome) and decided that I liked it better.

As I matured from a Linux geek hyped with a new shiny toy and wanting to play with everything for the sake of playing with it to an actual self-employed computer geek who needed his computer to just work and not be a toy, I grew to appreciate Gnome. The interface is light years ahead of KDE on looks (I still cut my eyes on the sharp corners of KDE despite the promise of Plasma) and the controls are manageable. I know the KDE gearhaeds feel that Gnome is lame because it doesn’t present every freaking possible option for every freaking possible setting for every freaking possible object on every freaking possible page, but honestly, I don’t need that in order to work with my computer and when I do need some deep down setting, I don’t mind hunting for it a bit. I don’t think I’ve ever had to look past the second Google hit to figure out where a setting is for anything in Gnome – I don’t need them all in front of me all the time.

But I digress.

Despite deciding that Gnome was more suitable for me, I have always forayed into KDE every time a new version came out or when trying another distro. I am currently running OpenSUSE with KDE, for example, just to give it another whirl.

The thing that awes me is that every time I have tried KDE over the past 4 years, Kontact (specifically KMail) and Konqueror – two apps that I would consider core to KDE – are unstable. This is experience borne out over time (4 years) distros (too many to count), hardware (at least 4 different computers), and ISPs (at least 4 that I recall).

I can’t actually use the web with Konqueror for any length of time because I will invariably run into a site that causes it hang and then snap shut taking all my tabs with it. I don’t know what causes it to do that, but I can’t recall every getting more than an hour of actual web surfing out of Konq before it bails. Konq is a great Swiss Army Knife and has many useful functions other than web surfing, but it’s kind of lame that I have to maintain a Firefox install to surf effectively.

KMail is another app that just won’t keep running. I have used 6 email providers that I can count off the top of my head and during the same years, computers, and ISPs, and KMail just can’t seem to keep running. At some point, KMail will just snap shut sometimes with a whimper, sometimes with no noise at all (“Hey, where did KMail go?”).

It’s simply amazing to me that these two apps can continue to be so unstable when so much time has passed, so many improvements have been put into both, and there is so large a team working on the KDE apps in general. I also find it ironic that many KDE supporters tout the fact that KDE has it’ own browser, where Gnome does not, as some kind of victory point. I have to use Firefox with either DE, so I don’t really see any merit to that claim.

So, here I sit again with a KDE desktop running Thunderbird for my email and Firefox for my web browsing. I wonder how long until I end up back with Gnome.

Related articles by Zemanta

• KDE hopes to fill boots with 4.2 release (theregister.co.uk)
• Google Chrome on KDE4.2 – Why not? (internetling.com)
• Dolphin Free File Management: A Better Option for KDE 4? (ostatic.com)
• Kubuntu Moves Forward: You Can’t Please Everyone, All the Time (ostatic.com)

Tags: Fedora, google, KDE, Konqueror, Kubuntu, Linux, Operating system, Swiss Army Knife

Some related posts:

• January 22, 2010 -- What Does “Unlocking” a Cell Phone Mean? (0)
• January 21, 2010 -- Looking for Blackberry OTA Backup Solutions (2)
• January 16, 2010 -- JungleDisk: Amazon S3 For Windows, Mac & Linux (1)
• January 14, 2010 -- GoGrid: Instant Servers and Cloud Storage (0)
• January 13, 2010 -- Most Useful Google Chrome Extensions (0)