Bruce Byfield: KDE5 Plasma is the best desktop

by
in linux on (#3RP)
Everyone knows opinions are like noses: everyone has one. But Bruce Byfield has been at it longer than most, and his opinion often reflects the industry. And he loves KDE5.
At a time when the Linux desktop offers six main alternatives (Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, LXDE, Mate, Unity and Xfce), KDE Plasma consistently tops reader polls with an average of 35-40 percent. In such a diverse market, these figures indicate a broad appeal that other Linux desktop alternatives can't match.

I believe that one of the main reasons for this appeal is the KDE design philosophy. GNOME and Unity may offer a more aesthetic-looking default, but only at the cost of simplifying both the desktop and the utilities in the name of reducing clutter.

By contrast, KDE goes to the opposite extreme. KDE applications typically include every function you can imagine. Sometimes, they can take a version or two to organize the menus in a meaningful way, but applications like Amarok, K3B, or digiKam go far beyond the most common use cases. When you run into problems with them, they usually offer solutions.
Read the rest of his thoughtful and insightful review here.

[Ed. note: Actually, opinions are like something else. But Pipedot is a family-friendly site.]
Reply 13 comments

I'm offended! (Score: 2, Funny)

by skarjak@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 14:29 (#2MT)

I'll have you know, I was born without a nose and find this deeply offensive!

Fo' real though, I actually kind of dislike how cluttered most KDE apps are. I don't consider it a good thing to include everything and the kitchen sink into a program. I'd rather be given options for realistic use cases. So that's why I tend to prefer the Gnome stuff (that and the fact that they pull less libraries; have they fixed that?). If a piece of software doesn't do enough for me, I'll look XFCE's way or try to find a GTK non-gnome app that has what I need. So for example, they made nautilius pretty useless, so I'm running thunar. But when it comes to music players, I really just want a play button and a slider.... So the gnome player is fine by me.

I'd prefer if KDE programes were more extendable, rather than being cluttered by default.

Re: I'm offended! (Score: 1)

by skarjak@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 14:30 (#2MV)

I guess you can tell I'm a vim user, not an emacs one. :)

Re: I'm offended! (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 19:16 (#2MY)

Good comment! Different strokes for different folks, though. I actually prefer programs that astound you from the start with all the options. It impresses me with how much the thing can already do, and I make an effort to learn what those options are and how to use them.

I use Adobe Acrobat XI at work now (not Reader) and they just went through this philosophical shift from the last version. In the last version there were tons of tricks and functions, and that's how I learned that it was even possible to deskew slanted images, reduce the DPI resolution and/or the file size, downsample bitmaps, and the like. XI does all those things too but looking at the menu you'd be hardpressed to guess it's possible. Instead you have to enable "toolsets" and that makes different tools exposed. Point is: the old version showed you everything it could do, while the new version you have to suspect it's possible and then hunt for the place to make it happen. I prefer the former.

That said, I recognize I'm in the minority. It seems most "modern" computer users are trying as hard as possible to not have to think, and expect software to be simplified down/dumbed down to where its interface meets their lighter cognitive load (so to speak). Maybe it's a generational thing.

Re: I'm offended! (Score: 1)

by skarjak@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 20:52 (#2N6)

I don't really think it's about not wanting to think, it's mostly about wanting to be able to find what you want as fast as possible. A program that includes everything will naturally add a lot of noise which will make it harder to find the option you need. Obviously you also need a basic set of features if you're gonna do any work, in that sense I perfectly understand the frustration with designers who make things "clean" at the cost of functionality.

The average user does want to think: he wants to think about the task at hand. I'd rather spend my brain's processing power dealing with whatever I wanted to do than to use it trying to figure out my tools. Yes, you can discover things you might not have expected when you are given complex tools, but an enterprising spirit would have sought out those advanced techniques anyway.

This is why I prefer to deal with those things using extensions, or simply choosing to install more advanced software if needed. To me a program like thunar is really striking the perfect balance: it does all that an average user might want, provides more niche functions in an unobtrusive fashion and is extensible as well

Isn't the unix philosophy to do one thing, and to do it well? I like that way of thinking. :)

Re: I'm offended! (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-07-26 01:30 (#2NF)

In a way you are right but again you are a minority. Most of us reading this are. Most of users will never find the extended toolbar or will never install the extension. Most of users will not even know those things exist. Most of users will not go searching for extensions.On the other hand I have seen people accidentally clicking a button in Excel and finding a function which saved them lots of time. Not only they used it again but they told other people in the office and soon everyone was using this. If this option was hidden, they would have never found it.The main purpose of dumbing down of interfaces is to sell it to the masses who otherwise would find it too complicated and would never used it. Everyone else loses but we have already bought into the product so we don't matter.Sorry about one long paragraph but I am typing this on my phone and when I click preview all newlines disappear.

Availability (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 18:49 (#2MW)

So is KDE5 available in the default package sources of Ubuntu based distros? Or do you have to wait until October? Or go through some exotic manual installation? Or maybe a PPA?

Opinions (Score: 1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-25 19:19 (#2MZ)

They're like armpits!!!

Might try it (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 19:23 (#2N0)

I haven't used KDE very much since 3.5. When KDE 4 came out it seemed more sluggish and bloated on one of my now well aged systems. I switched to XFCE for all systems, and have been quite pleased. I may give KDE 5 a try on one of my newer boxes.

Re: Might try it (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 19:36 (#2N2)

It looks like they may have finally removed that dragon. I've got nothing against mascots, but I must say it didn't really fit the rest of the UI. He'd show up randomly at shutdown/logout.

Re: Might try it (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 19:56 (#2N4)

That guy's name was Konqi. He sort of came to be with the Konqueror web browser, file manager app. It was okay, but somewhat juvenile I suppose. The KDE guys are aging and getting more (cough) mature.

Re: Might try it (Score: 2, Insightful)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-07-25 20:37 (#2N5)

With the latest style changes and cleanup, I think they can be taken more seriously. I'm fairly impressed after watching the videos. Now the only question is how's performance on older hardware. They stated they rewrote some major pieces. Hopefully it's leaner and meaner.