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All comments on news story: Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?
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this article blows chunks	by: CMonster3
Where does Thom Holwerda get the idea that a bigger, badder, more perfect desktop environment will foster Linux adoption for "DESKTOP DEPLOYMENT?" I think the author makes the same error of assumption that other alternative OS advocates do, confusing the desktop applications suite and windowing system with DESKTOP USE.These people seem to think "if only we had a perfect killer desktop then everyone would start using our OS;" they set about reinventing the wheel over and over "if only we had a killer custom rim with chrome spinners then everyone would buy our car." Not if the car can't take you where you want to go or carry the xyz brand of luggage. The author makes the broad statement: "Both KDE and GNOME have some serious problems which cannot be solved easily." Gaaa! duh! - and MS Windows desktop has more problems than KDE and GNOME put together so it is obviously not perfect desktop functionality that puts an OS on "THE DESKTOP." Let's get this straight one more time for the slow ones out there: The desktop suite and windowing system is not the same as "THE DESKTOP" meaning "used as my primary computing platform." It is what you can do and how easily that should put an OS on THE DESKTOP; it's being able to shop at a store among thousandns of worthless software titles and bring home a box and run it on the OS, it's buying a new piece of hardware - say a Plantronics 500 USB headset and just being able to pop in a manufacturer's CD and get it going, without having to edit /etc/modprobe.conf.local and figure out which applicatons should use soundcard 0/1 or /dev/dsp or dsp1... it's having a legal DVD player that actually works worth a darn (sorry LinDVD but you're not quite there yet). To all the desktop = DESKTOP misunderstanding I say 'It's the applications and drivers, stupid." The desktop is good enough for now. I think the author hit the nail on the head here: "Microsoft has not been resting on its laurels either. Windows Vista is already available to some people (including me), and by the end of January, basically every new computer sold will come with this new operating system." ...let's hear that again: "basically every new computer sold will come with this new operating system." Can you spell monopoly? Okay I'm about done with my rant, so now all you folks who don't get it or refuse to believe me can go back to work recoding KDE or GNOME. Don't get me wrong - we love you coders in our house - been using on our DESKTOPS here since 1997. I love the latest KDE and Gnome and implimentation in OpenSuSE 10.2 makes it just about the most awesome Linux distro we have ever used.

Re: this article blows chunks	by: nycace36
Not only all this, but there is also another non-bloated desktop environment for a more limited number of Linux distros that gets much less attention than the big two CMonster3 mentions. It is the lightweight and highly efficient Xfce (http://www.xfce.org/). Currently Xfce is RAPIDLY approaching its stable version 4.4 release, way way before KDE EVER gets to an already maligned but stable 4.0! A straightforward comparison of Xfce with the other big two desktop envs is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments Some of the Xfce-containing distros are Xubuntu (http://www.xubuntu.org/), Slackware Linux (http://www.slackware.com/), several other Slackware-derived distros, and a few lesser known "minor" distros. Admittedly, Xfce is NOT YET available for default installation in your standard major players such as Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, Fedora (the newest), and the distros many readers of this are regularly using and favored. Still, compared to GNOME and KDE, Xfce is turning out to be the MOST EFFICIENT at getting the basics done right!!!

the NEW NEW NEW Desktop	by: Janvanl
I do not if this is soooo important. Personally I like a stable system and I do not need loads of flashy gadgets that make a system slow and instable. But for those who want something new, have a look at Project Looking Glass from Sun, that is a promising and new and flashy developement, good luck playing around, I must stop now, work is waiting . . . ! JanvL

Has he even looked at the progress which was made?	by: kjuergen
What he considers minor improvements is more then he gets from a 5 year effort to change the look (and lock-out) of eXPerimental into Wishdah! (Plus he gets 5 major security problems within 3 weeks there........) KDE 3.0 and 3.5 would be considered 5 major upgrades (with the associated cost) in Redmond. >kjs