Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME (iTWire) [LWN.net]

Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME (iTWire)

Posted May 19, 2008 17:15 UTC (Mon) by horen (subscriber, #2514)
Parent article: Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME (iTWire)

The article misses a (to me) crucial aspect of the modern-day difference between a window manager and a desktop manager: session management.

I admit to being ignorant (both hands-on and intellectually) about GNOME; however, the ability of KDE to "save state" between sessions is both powerful and enabling. Whether in a home-user or business setting, session management is a solid productivity/frustration-freeing tool.

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Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME (iTWire)

Posted May 19, 2008 17:20 UTC (Mon) by rmn30 (subscriber, #36960) [Link]

The author also appears unaware of the distinction between a window manager (kwin, metacity)
and a widget toolkit (qt, gtk...). Viz.:

"In fact, most all software will run under both KDE and GNOME and will correctly adopt the
appropriate user interface so as not to cause offence. After all, the programs are merely
requesting “a button” or any other visual element, and it is up to the window manager – within
the desktop manager – to draw it as it sees fit."

Seems that this article is likely to cause as much confusion as it resolves...

Seeing Linux clearly: Demystifying KDE and GNOME (iTWire)

Posted May 21, 2008 1:57 UTC (Wed) by kh (subscriber, #19413) [Link]

For Gnome, (at least in Ubuntu), System > Preferences > Sessions
[Session Options] tab