I though’t I’d begin the timeless disscussion - GNOME or KDE?!
Will your choices change with the release of 11.0 GM?
Let the flaming begin.
ADMINS: wanted to add a poll - but there wasn’t an Option?!
Poll options would be:
GNOME
KDE 3
KDE 4
XFCE
CLI
Other
My experience with GNOME is limited to playing with OpenSuSE11 beta, as I always used KDE. In that limited experience I believe that my preference of KDE is just because of having been used to it. There is nothing in GNOME that would attract me as superior or better than KDE, and if the situation was reversed, I think I’d feel the same for KDE.
There is just one thing that bugs me with KDE 4, and I am not sure if that’s because of me not knowing any better. It appears that entire desktop is now composed only of widgets. Dragging and dropping files to desktop is just producing links, I can’t use desktop as I am using it now: to keep stuff until I find better place for them, or until I delete them. Stuff like immediate downloads, often used docs etc… Then again, I played with it only for a while and didn’t explore it in depth… so I could be wrong.
i had a look at KDE 4 on Kubuntu - and it is just HUGE! everything is big - which i don’t like - GNOME for me - mainly cos that’s what im used to, but KDe is all a bit BIG and windows like. however - Kopete has webcam support which Pidgin does not - which is annoying. But, GNOME for me - but as you say, it is just what im used to too.
hope I can turn this into a poll soon! (admins help please :))
UPDATE: Poll added
xfce
like the style and approach and its light
Until now: KDE 3.
I gave KDE 4 a chance and there were still too many issues, which weren’t appropriate. I hope it is fixed in openSUSE 11.
i need to start to investigate XFCE - do you still get all the pretty CompizFusion stuff like in the News article on Compiz in 11.0 ?
IMHO sometimes the Gnome or KDE or other discussions boil down to Apples or Oranges or Bananas type discussion. Also, if one likes fruit in general, then sometimes it depends on what store can get the most “fresh” fruit, and also get the specific variety of Apple, Orange or Banana that one likes. 
I like the openSUSE distribution for a number of reasons, of which their excellent KDE-3.5.x implementation is one reason, and hence KDE tends to be my vote.
KDE-4 looks intreging, but I’m not one for beta testing a desktop, and while KDE-4.0 may be out, from the live-CD’s that I have played with, I find it currently not as stable, nor feature rich enough for me. But I’m pretty confident there will come a time when I try out and likely use KDE-4.
I could never get into Gnome, … the live CD implementations that I tried simply did nothing for me, and I could never sucessfully tune Gnome (given the time I spent) to a desktop that I liked. I have not tried for sometime (last attempt was SuSE-9.x days) so maybe it deserves another look. I have read that if one really likes Gnome, then Ubuntu or Fedora have first class implementations. Their (Ubuntu/Fedora) live CDs rather turned me off for reasons OTHER than the Gnome desktop … I also note Novell/SuSE-GmbH have spent a lot of attention on Gnome in recent years, so I wonder if Ubuntu/Fedora still have a “lead” on the Gnome setup? Maybe Gnome (on openSUSE) is now worth a second look for die-hard KDE users like myself.
I gave Xfce a real attempt on a dedicated PC, but in the end switched back to KDE on that PC. Too many features were either missing or too difficult to setup with Xfce. There is (IMHO) a price that one pays for a lighter desktop, and wrt features I have been spoiled by KDE.
As for CLI, I used to have some real ancient (pre-stonehenge) PCs, and I ran CLI (run level 3) on those a lot, accessing them via ssh and nx. But that was not a preferred method of operation, but rather one driving by a lack of processing capability of those PCs.
interessting - as I only have a CD reader with this PC - I will get hold of 11.0 LiveCDs on both KDE and GNOME and have a play - going to also check out XFCE to see what thats all about. I do agree with teh Fruit anaology - but, it is interesstign to see where the user base really lies - and with openSUSE it seems to be KDE generally.
There is some composition available, transparency mostly. I didn’t look into it much, don’t care really.
KDE3 for me here. I had a look at KDE4 but I just don’t like it in some way. It looks like KDE4 was desigend for kids by kids. Its interface looks childish to me and I can’t really get used to it.
Err, other. :o
i need to start to investigate XFCE - do you still get all the pretty CompizFusion stuff like in the News article on Compiz in 11.0 ?
Why would you want to run a lightweight DE and then load it up with all the heavyweight eye candy?
I think that’s more of a matter of opinion - Compiz can also speed up your system by taking the load off your CPU and moving it over to the GPU - if you hand pick the effects, in this case only the window transitions.
well - i like all the eye candy - like the spherical cube effect with the windows floading round them - that looks wicked 
and clearly that screenshot is KDE - but i assume it works with GNOME too - also my point is will Simple CCSM and CCSM work with XFCE also - so i can have a lightweight DM with eye candy - which will run faster than GNOME / KDE with eye candy? im a die hard GNOME fan anyway - but just investigating
I voted KDE 3.x series (3.5.9 actually). I also dabble with KDE4 and XFCE.
Currently I use KDE 3 but I think with opensuse 11 I will give KDE 4 a try. I think it’s time for a change. The suse guys spent so much time for the new artwork so that it would be a pity not to have a look at this 
Before KDE I was using GNOME (think it was the time of KDE 2) since KDE 3 I switched over to KDE because I more like the look & feel of KDE (and qt). But as already said, this is just a personal preference Anyway I have many respect to what GNOME & gtk has accomplished without a such a from a professional company pushed library in the background
I am finding that many times it depends on the distro as to which desktop I prefer. In openSUSE, KDE 3.5 is a true winner. In Linux Mint, GNOME is perfect. As for KDE 4, I am having an extremely difficult time warming up to it. That is why I am probably sticking with KDE 3.5 for now, or quite possibly moving over to GNOME. Luckily, we have plenty of choices.
IMO, suse gnome is extremely polished just like kde3/4
I’m not really into kde, tried 3.5 numerous times, don’t really like it (especially theming), and also tried kde4
I’m sticking with Gnome