Poll: Desktop environments

[daison]

I liked Gnome2, then XFCE. I looked at LXDE two years ago - it was not good. But half a year ago I found LXDE pretty functional and unbelivebly fast, so with Linux Mint 12 I prefer LXDE.

[steve88]

I installed LM9 64 bit LTS on my main i7 980x intel, 12 Gb ram pc when it was first released, and since that date have 'tweaked it' and updated it to latest LibreOffice and Firefox, and installed VirtualBox with Windows XP & 7. To me it is now a 'thing of beauty' and represents almost 100% of what I could ever want/need.

Inevitability that Gnome 2 would go and that the very less favourable Gnome 3 & 'Unity' and all those ramifications were almost upon me, I needed (but definitely not before LTS expiry in April 2013 [if then]), a suitable longer term replacement.

On a separate and reasonably high spec 2nd PC that is my reserve; have experimented with most of the current major distros with their respective desktops (inc KDE). Many were good, but did not come up to expectations on several fronts and/or were difficult to install/get to grips with.

Love Gnome 2, but the current efforts to emulate it or make the gnome 3 system something better does raise levels of choice, and trying to be being fair and progressive, accept that something different and better might evolve out of the change and/or allow greater personal choice.

Whilst LM13 LTS version is potentially an option for me (albeit an 'unknown' and Ubuntu influenced), I Installed the early version of LMDE 'rolling' on the 2nd PC, and have used that for some time and recently upgraded to update 4. Subsequently reinstalled from latest respin to give the 'MATE', 'cinnamon' and default options.

Now login/logout in LMDE frequently to change between 'Cinnamon' and 'Mate' to help me make up my mind, but find that each desktops have individual features that are more/less appropriate dependant on what I am trying to do.

'MATE' and 'cinnamon' will hopefully evolve and become more polished /functional, I will happily live with changing desktops between the two to suit what I am doing and seriously try both 'in anger'. At the moment I accept I am sitting on the fence, albeit I find 'Cinnamon' tends to be my favourite.However, I cannot help think that a polished 'MATE' with fully functioning Compiz (or similar) might be a better Gnome 2 'substitute' if that is really what people want.

LMDE is likely to be my preferred replacement for my LM9 LTS at some future date, and feel there is advantage in distancing Linux Mint from the 'Ubuntu' stable. I voted 'Cinnamon' & 'MATE' although feel xfc is good lightweight for low spec PC's.

Thanks go to Clem, and his team + all of the other enthusiastic people who make so much personal effort to make Linux Mint distro's so great. Thanks also need to go to all in the wider Linux world who help keep plugging away to make Linux what it is - - - the best.

[crizzly]

KDE. This ist the best user friendly desktop. All the rest no options for me. KDE is stable and since 1998 desktop environment in linux.

I installed in this order

1. Debian/Wheezy - KDE
2. LMDE - XFCE/KDE
3. Kubuntu Precise Pangolin for my friends and family since yesterday

[SallyK]

I use Enlightenment on Bodhi and Openbox on Crunchbang on other machines, but I'd much prefer Mint to carry on offering a fully-featured, powerful and easy to use desktop, and currently Cinnamon is definitely ticking those boxes for me. It combines access to some of the best ideas and technology of Gnome 3 while not making me change my work-flow drastically.

[ketoth]

Cinnamon lacks some minor "tweaks" (like easily setting screen saving policy and such) that need some maturity so I'm working under MATE actually
Also, voted for LXDE because I use it for remote desktop (light, performance, x2go -compatible..)

[torturedutopian]

Let me explain my votes :

- KDE, as this is my "dream" environment, ultra complete, fast, modern and super cool. If only it could stabilize and be as supported as the others. There is only (whatever the distro) a couple of things wrong which eventually always ruin the amazing experience. IMHO. And I tried many times.

- Gnome Shell, as this is the "standard" user-friendly environment. They went too far but at least, extensions can make it usable.

- Cinnamon, as this is a good modern environment with old paradigms. Let's see if they can continue to cooperate with the Gnome Shell team and bring it further. ---> this is what I use at the moment.

[raywoods]

I have been playing with LMDE 201204 on my Sony Notebook with the MATE DE. This does what I need and how I like to work. However, on my desktop, where my real work is undertaken I've had to go to SolusOS with its Gnome 2 DE. For some reason, which I haven't been able to fathom yet, I haven't been able to configure Pulse Audio to the way I need it within Linux Mint's current offerings.

I may be in a dead end; but it works!

[Stel]

At this moment, the most user friendly and stable DE is KDE. If you want to install a linux distribution to your friend's computer, without having him on the phone all the time asking you why this or that stopped working after an update, or how to add a certain functionality he needs, KDE is the obvious choice. Install and forget.

Cinnamon on the other hand looks very-very promising. No doubt about that.

The rest are, well, just that. The rest.

[MALsPa]

I use different desktops (and distros) on different days, and I like them all. I actually voted for most of the options, so I don't know how helpful my votes are, but I was happy that multiple votes were allowed.

Also, I'll typically use certain apps from one DE in another (like Dolphin, which is my preferred file manager regardless of which DE I'm using). For me, it doesn't seem to matter much which environment I'm logged into on a given day -- seems like I'm comfortable with any of them once I've spent enough time with it.

Interesting thread and poll results, though. I'm impressed by how popular Cinnamon is here, and it looks like more and more people are trying it in other distros as well. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so in the future. It's only going to mature with time, so I'm in no big hurry.

GNOME 2 isn't an option for the purposes of this poll, as Clem explained in the first post, but I still use it in a couple of distros; I have it in Debian Stable, so I'll probably be using it there for quite some time yet.

I'm happy to see so many great choices out there! That's one of the best things about using Linux.

[nerbiyoso]

voted solely for LXDE. i'm quite suprised with the result that LXDE is the least used vs. KDE and XFCE, wherein distrowatch, Lubuntu is ahead with Kubuntu and Xubuntu it appears KDE and XFCE implementation of Mint is much better?

come'on LXDE fans, show some LXDE love!

[Lippy]

Voted both Cinnamon and Gnome Shell as I currently have both installed on my LMDE setup. I'm still using Gnome Shell as my primary DE but I plan to switch to Cinnamon entirely eventually as I like the way it is heading. It's nice to be able to strip it down to just the panel and then mold it into whatever I want by adding applets and extensions.

The main reason that's holding me back is that Gnome Shell has a much bigger extension ecosystem, so I'd have to port some over if I wanted to use them. I'm not liking the upcoming changes to Gnome Shell either (I'm looking at global menus, titlebar integration with the panel and auto-maximise) as I think it will make the behaviour inconsistent (only supporting select applications) or annoying. Ironically I'm using an extension that integrates the titlebar with the panel, but this works with all applications. So eventually the changes will probably push me away to Cinnamon anyway!

[leica]

I have switched to KDE. I am a long time user of Gnome and have liked it. Mint's unique application launcher used in 9 through 11 was great! Cinnamon has good potential and hopefully will carry on the Mint tradition, yet in the meantime its just not as functional and stable enough for me.

KDE is clearly stable and offers high functionality with an excellent ability to be customized – I love that part of it. I wish there was a was to mount Cinnamon on KDE to marry the best of both traditions. In the meantime, I continue to be loyal to Mint and to Clem and the team. I think you are doing the great job trying to make sense of things during the transitional period.

[zota]

Problem is: I'm confortable with gnome 2.x + compiz + docky + cosmos (yep, that changing wallpaper counts a lot), other DE are behind... so... I'll wait and see...

[Riff]

I enjoy playing around with stuff on my computer, trying out this and that. Which is why I love Linux Mint. So many things to try, Lots of options, and all easy to use. If I break it while messing with it, I don't care. It's easy to start all over again.

That said, I tend to mostly use the Gnome environment to play around in. I like to try KDE every once in a while, for two reasons. Lots of eye candy, and it's the only DE that gives me total individual control over the two desktops I use. However, there are other issues with KDE that tend to spoil my experience, and I end up back with Gnome.

Currently though, I started using Cinnamon. I like that it offers an experience like that of Gnome 2, though the application menu provided with it is a bit too spastic for me. By that, I mean having to move my mouse from the category to the selections, often results in a sudden jump to an adjacent category, as my ability to precisely track the mouse in a straight line isn't as it should be.

But I'm still trying and tinkering. Things can only get better.

As for my votes, I selected both Cinnamon and KDE.

[Jawz]

KDE12 FTW !

[steviejay]

LMDE 201204 with Cinnamon. It's the nuts IMHO

[SpideyWebber]

Multibooting with the following
Currently using LM9 Gnome as a development environment, looks a bit dated now, i must admit, but works fine.
Just replaced LM10 KDE with LM12 KDE, version 10 had a few graphics problems but 12 seems perfect so far.
LM11 Gnome is aceptable, but
LM12 Gnome3 (plus extensions) is growing on me, and i seem to spend as much time in Gnome3 as KDE4

Sony VAIO VGN-NR32M/S 2Gb ram, 200Gb HDD, which seems to perform better and better with each new version of Linux Mint

[borgio3]

Unity and Xfce

[drackmere]

I'm actually a big fan of Enlightenment... Unlike a lot of people I actually don't mind Gnome-Shell, and I like a number of features of Unity...

I actually think those of us who love Enlightenment, also like Gnome Shell. For me they have the same type of entry, and I am comfortable in each. However, I am still very old school in a lot of ways, and I run multiple DE's. AfterStep is also one of my favorites. Enlightenment settings on 12 is borked, and all one can see for external themes is a tall ribbon with "Close" in the middle. If I need to change the settings I have to change the theme back to the default to see the window. I have no idea how to fix this, or if I even can. So I find myself more and more in AfterStep and Gnome Shell.

[abnor]

Needs to usable DE switcher as an Toools with Control Center.

For example, can be Tools like it:
=================
Choose your prefered DE:
[*] MATE
[ ] Cinnamon
[ ] LXDE
[ ] OpenBox
[ ] ...
Button: ["INSTALL and switch to..."]
=================

I think, it's true way to best Linux Mint distros...