Originally posted by michel
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I first became interested in Linux around 2007. Prior to that, I had only used Windows/DOS on the PC. I checked out Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian and PCLinuxOS at that time. I found that I prefered the KDE desktop over Gnome and used PCLinuxOS as my main OS for a few years. Eventually, I switched over to Kubuntu and KDE 4. I frequently try out the other desktops, and can find my way around Unity, Gnome 2/MATE, XFCE, LXDE and Enlightenment.
My experience with KDE can probably be summed up like this: I've become spoiled. In a way, KDE ruins my experience on other desktops, because every time I'm using the other desktops, I find myself missing features that are only found in KDE or are not as easy to accomplish without KDE. Here are a few examples:
- Adding a new application to the K menu is a breeze, and I find myself frequently modifying or creating launchers to add command-line flags or whatnot. It took me a while to discover the "alacarte" program for doing this in other Linux desktops, but it doesn't always work well (completely fails in Xubuntu 12.10).
- Window management is so configurable with kwin! I love being able to add a title bar button to pin a window on top of others. I love being able to control window transparency with the scroll wheel over the title bar. (I have only one monitor, and sometimes being able to partly see under a window is very helpful.) I also have custom keyboard shortcuts for minimizing, maximizing and tiling windows.
- I love being able to set window rules; it gives me such control over my applications. For example, I always have Dolphin and Kwrite open to the same size, regardless of what size I last changed them to. I always have Firefox open non-maximized and centered on the screen. I have set the "Styles and Formatting" window in LibreOffice to be slightly transparent. I have set the Rosegarden transport window to be slightly transparent, always on top, and not to be displayed in the taskbar. I could go on, but you get the idea.
- I love that I can choose from a large number of ways that the Alt-Tab dialog can appear.
- I love having an easy way in system settings to create my own keyboard shortcuts for anything. For example, I have Ctrl-Shift-F set to launch kfind, which is a great file search tool that doesn't need Nepomuk to be able to search the contents of your files.
- Dolphin services menu. Not only can I click a button in Dolphin to download new service menu options, it is pretty easy to create your own. Some really useful ones I have: Copy Path (copies the entire filename including path), Rename with KRename (really nice for mass renaming operations), and an option to convert any audio file.
- Dolphin's dual-pane mode, F4 integrated terminal and overall configurability. All other desktops have inferior file managers, IMO.
- Klipper. Having instant access to recent clipboard items is a godsend!
- Click on Battery Monitor icon, uncheck "Power Management Enabled", and you can watch that video without the screensaver coming on. This is only an issue in certain players (like Flash), but it is nice to have an easy workaround.
- KRunner is like a swiss army knife of functionality.
- Plasma Desktop. Here's my current setup. Desktop: Microblogging plasmoid to instantly see my latest Twitter feeds, CPU/RAM usage monitor, Folder View for desktop icons. On my dash, I also have a Folder View plasmoid pointed to a folder called "handy-dandy". Anything that I want quick access to, I will copy or symlink into my handy-dandy folder for easy access. I just simply hit the key combo to bring up my dash and double-click on the file I want to open.
- Activities. I have my standard "desktop" activity and a "screen capture" activity. The "screen capture" activity has no desktop plasmoids or icons which is great when I want to record a video tutorial. When I'm done shooting the video, I just go back to my "desktop" activity and everything is there again.
There's more... a lot more! Is KDE perfect? No, there are some bugs, but nothing that bothers me too much or can't be worked around. I also realize that not everybody cares about the level of customizability and they may prefer a "simpler" desktop. However, for me, KDE is the ideal desktop. It gives me the control I desire over exactly how my computer behaves. KDE reminds me that this is my computer. Of course part of that is due to Linux in general as well.
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