XFCE4

Story: Xfce Desktop: Less Lard, Less Bling, More UsabilityTotal Replies: 2
Author Content
azerthoth

Feb 10, 2010
7:55 PM EDT
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.
tracyanne

Feb 10, 2010
8:17 PM EDT
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.
Steven_Rosenber

Feb 10, 2010
8:54 PM EDT
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.

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