[daedalus_j]

KDE is such a great example of how to do it right that I didn't even think of it. It just works so well and so transparently that I forget how great it is sometimes.

Rock solid and both works and looks great right out of the box. So customizable that using literally anything else feels like using a Fisher-Price computer for toddlers.

[javajosh]

That review of KDE is so over-the-top it almost reads like satire. Is KDE really that great? (Using Gnome under Ubuntu - no complaints here. But I also am not sure what KDE is giving you. Control over look-and-feel of the windowing environment? Default utility applications? Perhaps a desktop API thick-client programmers can write against?

[daedalus_j]

KDE is really that great. Used a GNOME desktop on Fedora recently and there were so many simple features missing.

Windowing rules for one. Simple example: Firefox picture-in-picture. On KDE I have a windowing rule so that if from any firefox window playing video I hit the picture-in-picture button the picture-in-picture window becomes a certain size, goes to a certain placement on my monitors, stays on top of all windows, and is visible across all virtual desktops.

Ability to control the layout of my virtual desktops is also incredibly useful to me. (I use a 3x3 grid, so switching from my "main" task in the center to any one of 4 sub-tasks up-down-left-right is easy, and my universal tasks (chat/email/etc) go in the 4 corners.

KDE puts you in control, and gives you a LOT of control. IMO GNOME feels much more windows/mac in it's design philosophy. "We know best, do it the way we let you."

And as far as an API, yes, also that. With the Plasma desktop plugin Firefox remembers which virtual desktop each window is supposed to go to, so I have no issue rebooting with 5 or 6 different windows open.

I apologize if it sounds over the top, but for my use-cases at least the level of control and "just does the right thing" really do stand out above the alternatives.