KDE sets a really high bar with all the packages and extensibility. Almost everything (not including the lesser known and used packages) is feature-packed and just works. I really don't know any other software that constantly amazes me like KDE.
In addition to that, they make nice FOSS apps that are great for any DE (see Krita, Kdenlive)
Also it looks like Windows, and that to me is a huge plus for anyone using my computer.
I'm fine in general with most of them but I'm settled on KDE. I agree the software is great, I love apps like Okular and there are these little goodies hidden everywhere, like typing "fish://user@server" in the file manager url/path area and I get a folder open of the remote file system, I can even add it to "Locations".
XFCE, tried cinnamon a couple times it was okay but I just prefer the simplicity and stability of xfce
Seems like I'm the outlier here that prefers Gnome over KDE. Gnome feels more polished than KDE for me. Granted KDE comes with more features out of the box, but I don't find anything lacking in Gnome for me.
Tried KDE long time ago to compare it to Gnome 3, went back to Gnome. Tried KDE again a few months ago to compare to Gnome 42, came back to Gnome again.
I also can't stand having all my programs' name starting with K.
I also can't stand having all my programs' name starting with K.
Like Okular, Spectacle, Dolphin, .....
Maybe I shouldn't have said all, but it's annoying to me when the they put a "k" in the name in a very awkward way just because it's an KDE app.
•
I like Gnome the best too. In my experience, it's the desktop environment that focuses the most on making sure that no little bugs slip in. Like normally when you're using a desktop environment, it will be good except for a few bugs here and there where you have to remember weird things like not backing out of the settings menu in a certain way in order to not trigger a bug. Gnome seems to have the least amount of weird little bugs like that.
It's not very configurable out of the box, but I prefer that too. I'm getting a bit old and set in my ways, and don't really want to mess around with too much configuration anymore.
KDE has a lot of customization and plenty of neat features, but it suffers a death of a thousand papercuts. There's just so many small "non-severe" issues that adds up to making it end up feeling clunky and unpolished compared to GNOME's general polish.
I’m in the same boat. I use mostly stock gnome to avoid experiencing bugs. I used KDE for a bit and loved it but never really loved how many options the settings gave me. I would also constantly run into issues with the docks disappearing when unplugging monitors. In contrast docks on gnome just work. I really only use the Ubuntu dock extension on gnome
KDE was the first one I used after getting more comfortable with Linux and leaving Unity behind. KDE was very customizable and extensible, but when you actually started customizing it quickly became unreliable. I stuck with it for a few years then I tried Elementary next and it was pretty polished but it was limited to a specific distribution. After that I went to GNOME and I've been using it for 7 years now. It does need a few extensions, but otherwise I've found that it works quite well. I think I've also changed, I'm not as interested in things like wobbly windows anymore. I just want the desktop environment to stay out of my way, but I also don't want it to be too bare bones.
See I don't really get the appeal of xfce, I kinda see it as the minimal DE you use if you've got low powered hardware or if you need a DE on a system that isn't a personal computer and just need the bare minimum to run a graphical application or two
it's the quickest fully featured de, and as an added bonus, it's the least buggy of them all, it's also very simple in it's functioning, fairly close to a diy desktop + wm config, so tweaking random stuff like the compositor is easy to do and doesn't break everything
GNOME, for sure. It works out of the box, and it's kind of pretty out of the box.
I also tried it on a touch screen PX and it works surprisingly well.
•
I use gnome, but it's basically the worst DE, except all of the other ones that have been tried
It has the least features, so by default the least bugs.
KDE. Because it's mostly a complete package and has tons of knobs and dials to tune for anyone's needs edited
Vanilla Gnome. It's simple/boring, and I like that. It seems like most people that like Gnome don't care that it's not a poweruser DE, and aren't excited to talk about it either.
Love me some Cinnamon. Specifically what comes out of default Linux Mint. It isn't trying to do more than it already is. As cool as tech is I wish I didn't need to care about Wayland or X11. I just want it to launch applications, feel like the windows I used as a kid, and stay out of my way. Cinnamon does this all for me. And since freaking high school mint has been there trying to do that.
I use KDE now, but Cinnamon was my first and made the transition beautiful. It's a great DE.
I've been using Cinnamon for years. It's stable, fairly lightweight, and pleasing to the eye.
Mine is MATE:
It's still GNOME 2, but I see no problem with that, it works and I'm used to it and I like traditional desktops. I don't need (or care about) round borders or those on/off switches of modern desktops, that make them look like phone screens turned 90°.
