XFCE vs KDE

[Teddy]

Why I'm in favour of a future with KDE.

- It is Windows like
- Massive development team
- Detailed, almost to a point of overdoing it, configurability
- Stunning themes
- Mobile phone management with KDE Connect
- Continuously improving performance
- Konsole, has to be one of the best ootb Terminals available


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Everything here I agree on and am (of course) biased towards KDE. Of course I'm no stranger to other DEs either (using MATE Linux Mint on another machine for example) and I have no problem with XFCE at all. Just don't use GNOME whatever you do  ;D !

That disclaimer aside, I am going to go out on a limb and say that it would NOT be a good idea to change LL to KDE for the benefit of the community and your target userbase. I mean don't get me wrong, better development pace, good features are great assets to have, but do those things really warrant the risk of potentially alienating a good chunk of your userbase? I may like the change, and will welcome it if you decide so but I must disclose myself as someone who isn't the target demographic of LL generally speaking. We gained many LL users from the support closures of Windows XP/Vista and probably will receive many former Windows 7 users when support ends for it on 2020-01-14. Those people most likely appreciate the no-nonsense feel and arrangement of XFCE, while KDE can be overwhelming to someone completely brand new (it certainly was to me until after a month or so back during the KDE4 days). Even after all this time I still don't understand what the purpose of the 'Activities' feature that KDE has had for a long time. Never used it and I feel that the virtual desktops do the same thing anyway. The KDE settings and widgets panel alone can literally scare someone away from changing anything because of how detailed it is. Those already used to XFCE will want to stay with it most likely as well (my grandparents who use LL are a good example of this, they came from Windows XP).

In my mind, I think of Linux Lite as a 'Function over Form' style of distro, where productivity/usability/ease of use are at the foreground of priorities and the looks/theme/eye candy supplement the productivity/usability. KDE is all about eye candy and is a tinkerer's dream. As an example: I can only think of KDE Connect as a gimmick in many ways: Notifications that sync with a smartphone, ability to use smartphone as a touchpad & remotely controlling multimedia with a smartphone. Yes these features are nice but are they essential? The cool thing about KDE Connect though is sending and receiving files wireless which is very helpful and the only non gimmick service that KDE Connect provides. XFCE fits that 'Function over Form' mission better for LL I think.