Debian joins Desktop Linux Consortium

Posted Feb 8, 2003 15:20 UTC (Sat) by rknop (guest, #66) [Link]

..the Debian desktop...

I exctract this because it crystalizes for me why this entire debate, on both sides, makes absolulely no sense.

What is the Debian desktop? The same question could easily be asked about a number of other distributions. Debian has all sorts of packages in it; it's probably more complete as far as free software goes than any other Linux distribution. As such, "the" Debian desktop can be whatever you want it to be. It can be Gnome based, KDE based, various versions of either, etc. And if you don't like that, it can be FVWM based, or whatever the heck else you want.

There is no such thing as "the" Linux desktop, unless you're talking about it in very general terms. The configuration of your desktop has far more to do with which software you choose to run and how you set it up than the distribution you get your software from. Even Red Hat 8, which pushes its own theme, can be custmized back to more standard setups, or to whatever else you want.

It makes more sense to ask which distributions best enable desktop users, as in ease of installation, completeness of sofware, etc., rather than what their desktop looks like or does-- because by and large, what they can do is what they all can do.

You can't say that the Debian Desktop is out-of-date, klunky, or wrong, simply because there is nothing that you can identify as "the" Debian desktop.

-Rob