[czei002]

Would agree with that. Just used Ubuntu gnome for a product demo and its a usability nightmare.

- How to create a shortcut for a command -> use the command line.

- Modify group permission in nautilus? -> No use the command line.

- Switching users -> bug, doesn't work half of the time

- Functionality is hidden in the window title bar (debatable)

- Window close button is too close to the logout button

Is Gnome so simple to use because you don't have any option to do something? :-p

The Ubuntu theme is especially bad:

- No window borders -> overlapping terminals become indistinguishable.

- Window title bars and top menu bar are almost indistinguishable...

In contrast, we used an KDE app in the demo and a couple of times we thought, can you configure xy? would simplify things. Yes! you can do xy. Is there a keyboard shortcut for xy? no but you can configure one, Great!

[meko]

KDE tailors to windows users, it has familiar conventions. GNOME is a linux DE for linux users. The problems you had are not really 'problems' for anyone moderately versed with linux.

[KozmoNau7]

KDE is somewhat similar to Windows, because that general UI layout works well, and has worked well since Windows 95, ie. for literally 23 years. Other systems have used similar GUIs, including OS/2 Warp.

We are now at a point where KDE is vastly superior at this type of UI than Windows 10 is. They've been doing it for almost as long as MS (KDE 1.0 was released in 1998). The settings UIs alone are so vastly superior, it's kind of embarrassing for Microsoft.

So why has KDE stuck doggedly to this UI style? Because it works. MS spend countless millions and hours on UI research for Win95. It's a very pragmatic decision, and they've made progressions based on the original design, rather than throwing everything out the window and trying to re-invent the wheel, like the Gnome devs did.

As a result, KDE is focused, straight-forward and doesn't get in your way. It simply lets you get on with what you actually want to do. Yet it is also extremely flexible, perhaps even more so than famously customizable UIs like FVWM.

The problems czei002 mentioned are absolutely problems with Gnome. Some of them are specifically Ubuntu problems, but generally they are inherent to bad UI choices from the Gnome devs. Not being able to change permissions in Nautilus? User switching not working? Not being able to create shortcuts from the UI? These are all signs of a bad UI.

You can't even set focus to "follows mouse" without raising windows when clicking inside them. I want focus to follow the mouse, and I only want windows to raise if I click the frame or title bar. KDE lets me do this right in the settings UI, with just a couple of clicks. In Gnome (or Cinnamon), you have to alter gconf settings, akin to registry fiddling in Windows. That's not cool.

[m_mueller]

By that you mean people who stay in one terminal? Why have a window manager at all then?