Talk:Comparison of X Window System desktop environments

message: Shouldn't it be fair to include Motif and Open Motif as well?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.173.250.9 (talk) 06:56, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Motif and other missing DEs 

message: this page should probably be called "comparison of Linux desktop environments shouldn't it? also, it would be really good to see some performance specs for each DE too. --134.148.20.3 03:14, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: In its current state, it should probable be called "Comparison of desktop environments for the X Window System". I think this article should be changed to a comparison of all notable desktop environmets, including Windows, Mac, RISCOS, Amiga etc. Ahy1 22:08, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

text: You could list the minimum system requirements as an indication of resource usage. --sofar 15:35, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

text: None of these are exclusive to Linux-based OSes; misnomer much. ¦ Reisio 02:02, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree, so I moved it to "Comparison of X Window System desktop environments". Guy Harris 02:34, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rename 

message: This is not a good sentence:
  A desktop environment (DE) can be broken up into several components that function independently and interact with one another to provide the look and feel and functionality of the desktop environment.
it defines a desktop environment in terms of a desktop environment, i.e. a  circular definition.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.59.84.177 (talk) 21:30, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I took the list from this KDE site and this article. --DevastatorIIC 13:29, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Criticism

message: Look at other "comparison of" articles -- Linux distros, instant messenger programs, etc.
What I'd like is information that describes the differences between desktops such as KDE and GNOME, sufficient to help distinguish them or help in a choice. Right now this article tells me nothing, or very little, about their actual comparison. Any chance of expansion? FT2 (Talk | email) 22:58, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  More information 

message: In the first table, Konqueror stands for cd-ripper in KDE, maybe Kaudiocreator was meant there? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.178.5.192 (talk) 21:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Konqueror or maybe Kaudiocreator ? 

message: I modified the article to a large extent. It is by no means perfect, but I think I've atleast given the article some direction. I don't think it makes sense to include proprietary desktop environment like the one Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X gives with its OS. Some of the elements don't even have their own names. Most elements are inseparable and integral parts of the OS. The whole environment is a tangled mess and everything is written directly into the kernel. Further, since everything is proprietary, it's impossible to analyse and compare them with free software. I believe proprietary and free software are in different leagues and cannot be compared with each other expect on a superficial basis.
I think the purpose and objective of the article is very clear. What it talks about is also very clear. I'm sure new GNU/Linux users will find this article very useful and informative too.
I finally take take this opportunity to request permission to remove the expand and expert tags as I think my modifications have satisfied the requirements of both. Leave any messages concerning this issue on my userpage.
-- Artagnon 16:21, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Large modification 

message: I added the inappropriate tone tag because I think this article could benefit from some improvement in writing style.  The sentence structure generally seems repetitive and choppy; it could be more sophisticated.  I know that this isn't exactly tone, but I couldn't find a tag template that dealt with this particular issue.  This may be something I can try to work on later, but right now I'll just throw this out to everyone.Brad Gibbons 06:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  style concerns 

message: In Unix, a desktop environment is not a window manager.  BSD, Linux, Unix, and HURD can all run with almost no extra software from the command line.  The fact that a window manager doesn't need extra software to run does not make it a desktop environment.  
In Unix, a desktop environment is a set of programs that the author thought was the minimum needed for end users to run the operating system.  They usually have a window manager, a terminal (command line), a file manager, cd/dvd burning software, image editing software, text editing software, hypertext software, and common toolkits and libraries for other applications.Altarbo 22:16, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, a desktop environment is not a window manager. -- Artagnon 09:06, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flaws 

message: In response to the comments, I've made another major edit to the article. I hope the major crisis of DE versus WM was addressed in this edit. -- 13:32, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: "Full Environments" and "Window managers only" split in the table is a fantastic solution to the long standing debate of DE versus WM. The article needs to be edited further to look encyclopaedic. The "five categories" is also my invention and should probably be removed. Artagnon 17:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another major edit 

message: This is hard to do because window managers are a religious topic; thanks for trying.
This reminds me of a table very subjectively comparing the American Presidential candidates: 
One way to make it easier to understand is to find a few objective data points that separate the different categories of desktop environment from each other:
* Installation size
* Includes application launcher?
* Includes configuration GUI?
* Includes Web browser?
* Includes visual effects?
Longer explanation could go beneath the table.  References should be actual links (or references to books, etc.), not just a description of where you looked for the information (which you may want to put in the prose, or may not need at all).  The table of applications corresponding to each DE/WM is great.
I'm not sure the topic is Wikipedian to address, because to even begin figuring it out you have to make some assumptions about the user's needs.  (But again, thanks for the effort that went into writing and rewriting the thing and trying to be dispassionate.)
Incidentally, I got to this article because I'll probably soon be using Xfce on an ultraportable, storage-constrained laptop (the Asus Eee) and wanted to find out more about it.  Maybe that application somehow rates inclusion -- that these smaller, less-known environments are practical for old, less-powerful, or storage-limited machines.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.24.209.5 (talk) 07:40, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Maybe tables could focus on objectively-measurable traits? 

message: half the (minimal) content of Comparison of X window managers is talking about metacity & kwin as part of gnome and kde, and the rest is about jr. environments like blackbox and icewm.
Why not merge this artcle with "Desktop Environment"? - KitchM (talk) 04:31, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  merge 

message: Im doing a lot of test in my new Arch linux and i see kde very high in mem use but fster than gnome and xfce the king of speed but kde the king of visual effects. what about the speed and mem needs?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.56.30.80 (talk) 18:32, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  What about speed? 

message: This belongs in the comparison. Keyboard shortcuts? Alternatives to pointing with the mouse? Auditory cues/feedback? Support for applications which otherwise might provide such accessibility features? --76.200.148.120 (talk) 03:00, 9 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  What about accessibility? 

message: "Memory comparison can be found here."
That link is to a biased source and the author even admits it himself in the article.  I think would be better to either discuss in more depth in the article with other sources included as well, or just delete that link... 84.138.205.240 (talk) 15:42, 23 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  memory use 

message: Dolphin is the file manager not Konqueror.
122.179.88.11 (talk) 04:00, 9 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dolphin is the file manager not Konqueror. 

message: The ETK link redirects to Commune of the Working People of Estonia. I fixed it, so now it goes to Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, but I just wanted to note it because I thought it was funny. =) --Topsfield99 (talk) 19:12, 12 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  ETK Links to [[Commune of the Working People of Estonia]] 

message: This article seems to need a little refresh. What about MATE (desktop environment) and Cinnamon (user interface), while I never heard of Ede and Etoile (are those country or distribution dependent?), neither with Fedora, Suse, ?Ubuntu, Mint, Magaia, EeePC-Linux (obsolete), EasyPeasy, nor Knoppix (and some others).
The table should be split up in three, at the "full", "semi" and "WM" column areas.--Mideal (talk) 12:45, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Outdated? 

message: To my knowledge this is a non-starter. There are no compatibility issues or interoperability issues with the X11 based desktop environments at all, since the interaction with the desktop and an application (from a window manager point of view) is entirely based an X11 protocol, which all the window managers have implemented (if not, nothing would work!). Any interoperability or compatibility issue is then reduced to what other libraries or managers use, but since an app would -depend- on those being present, that's a non-starter too, i.e. there are no interoperability issues and no compatibility issues since each project either implement a common protocol with no extensions or implement a unique protocol.
Unless someone is able to produce an example or either a compatibility issues or an interoperability issue (swiftly) I propose to remove the section entirely.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.167.145.44 (talk) 01:37, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  About "Compatibility and interoperability issues" 

message: The list mentions MATE (I guess because of it being a GNOME2 fork), but misses Cinnamon.http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/
Besides the discussions on differences between Window Managers and Desktop Environments, how do you think we should treat forks or alternatives that keep roots in the original project (Cinnamon, or Budgie https://solus-project.com/budgie/ for GNOME3) or inner variants such as Plasma Active for KDE?
For a comparison, besides project philosophy, toolkit and estimated disk footprint some other real metrics such as memory footprint https://l3net.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops/ would be a good addition, and while I agree that the referenced article falls victim to the confusion between window managers and full blown desktop environment, the fact that he listed all of them hints that this article should mention and/or reference exclusions, clearly state the rules of exclusions (missing utilities or certain features to qualify as one) and mention them as alternatives to implicit window managers in the second table where applicable (I'm thinking also of Compiz and Metacity besides Openbox).
Also for the GNOME column the file manager is called Nautilus (Cinnamon calls it Nemo) and the browser is called (or codenamed...) Epiphany.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mitzampt (talk • contribs) 18:46, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question on adding GNOME-based and others 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Please beware of adding too many links in the external links section, per Wikipedia:ELMIN.  Usually only one of two are expected, though in my opinion it would not be unreasonable to increase this slightly in some situations.  If the links are to be used in cites then temporarily commenting out in say the reflist might be acceptable very short term, otherwise I'd suggest adding them to the talk page or creating a workpage.  Thankyou. Djm-leighpark (talk) 12:30, 23 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Excessive external links 

message: KOffice, listed as a KDE Office package is unmaintained. That is said in KOffice. Source: https://invent.kde.org/unmaintained/koffice FlavianusEP (talk) 11:06, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  KOffice