Gnome and KDE have got very different UI approaches. KDE has got this OMGWTF-POWAH thing that has got its own appeal. Gnome is the aesthetic GUI and workflow nazi land. When a "power addict" or an "engineer minded user" steps into Gnome land he doesn't like it. In some case we will be reading from the newspapers about it ;-) When someone who likes minimalistic approach that does the 80 part of the 80-20 thingy consistently comes to KDE land.. Well, he stays for a while and often is back using Gnome after a while.
That was just my way of putting it and for a reason: I might be naive but I don't see why both wouldn't be reached simultaenously. Why can't many GUIs have both "simple" and "advanced" mode and so on? Take the Konqueror ( 3.x version) for instance.
I launch it up. By default it's like stepping into the cockpit of a space shuttle. There's stuff on left, stuff on right, panes, buttons, menus and so on. You can customize and tweak it until the end of the world. The problem is I don't want to customize some 10+ applications when they could be nice for me from the very beginning. And they are on the other side of the fence. If the default was the minimalistic one the other people would be pissed off.
What I like is having the title bar (that comes from the window manager), no menus at all (!), no panes, no status bar at the bottom (!), just one address field and next to it grouped 1-5 the most used buttons. And the main information area of the file system having big friendly icons. Woohoo. Let's see, have I been able to remove the menu bar? I can't remember. Hopefully. Could I still get the occasional POWAH I wanted? Yeah, hopefully, clicking at some area and something perhaps?
Anyways.. What if I had sort of master switch between the shuttle cockpit and the nice version? What if the applications (all of them of the base ones) could by default adapt automatically?
I have been also back in Gnome land because it's easier to get really good looking. In the end some parts of the KDE applications such as the main bar has been really bad. Try to make it transparent? Okay. Add the window list? Handles? Argh. Ugly. I don't know about the present development versions but in the past it has been just impossible getting everything theme'd and looking good. Often some silly widget part or similar has just simply refused from co-operating. Argh.
And is it important? To get AWESOME looking GUIs? Some people say "I prefer functionality". Well, I prefer getting both functionality AND looks. It has been usually easier available on the other side of the fence, thank you.
What have you Appeal people in your minds actually for KDE4? I'm just wondering.. Because until I can get beautiful more minimalistic GUIs by default I won't be a KDE user, ever. And umm.. I'm not the only one I'm afraid. Then again a lot of people are against changing it all and especially by default.
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