Xfce Desktop: Less Lard, Less Bling, More Usability

Nice review, although it bears mentioning that if your system is capable then compiz-fusion is compatible with it. Giving you back some of the visual bling that some cry out for.

My partner likes it because it is so simple. She doesn't have to worry about learning anything new, has her web browser, Email, IM and a few games, no fancy desktop cubes to disturb her equilibrium , no flashy graphics, just simple cool blue of the standard XUnuntu install, and a single panel at the bottom "where they are supposed to be". Her first Linux was KDE 3.5, and anything looks too different is too scary.

I like Xfce well enough, I'm comfortable enough to do my software updates in the console with apt or Aptitude. I don't use Evolution for my mail. I even like Thunar.

But over the past year I've grown accustomed to a bunch of GNOME apps - Gedit, Gthumb, even Nautilus (which I find I quite like). As much as even I trash it, NetworkManager appears to work well enough. I do like the UpdateManager and Synaptic; it just makes things easier.

Problem: Mousepad is superfast but not nearly as functional as Gedit. If Geany was working for me, I'd probably be fine, but now that I use Gedit, it keeps me in the GNOME world.

And I really like Epiphany as a browser. it's simple, quicker and less CPU-hungry than Firefox, even using Gecko.

I do keep Xfce on my really low-spec machines, but on my main machines I run GNOME. I just don't see a speed advantage in Xfce. If I really want to go light, I use Fvwm or Fluxbox.

Not that anything's stopping me or anybody from using GNOME apps in Xfce, KDE apps in GNOME, or any other combination/permutation, but until GNOME cloaks its entire self in Mono, I'll probably continue using it.

At least Xfce is there if/when the Mono takeover of GNOME does happen.