It's not relevant now, but back when I started using Linux (Red Hat 7.1 I think) what made me choose KDE was that with KDE all the apps had a conspicuous 'K' in their names whereas Gnome app did not, so it was easier to get a consistent user experience.
After that it was Konqueror with the different protocols like "wk:" in the address bar to search Wikipedia.
Then when I learned more, it just seemed like Qt was a much more capable foundation to build a desktop on, and I wanted to bet on the winner.
In the end KDE did win the desktop... because they built WebKit (as KHTML) and everything is now a webapp and the desktop is otherwise irrelevant.
The desktop is only irrelevant on FOSS platforms such as Linux, because the native software is so incredibly bad. If you want the best software, it's in native apps, usually on MacOS.
A modern classic absurdity: Linux enthusiasts who purchase MacBooks and use them to do all their computing in shitty web apps.
Plasma on Ubuntu is the what windows 7 could've been. It's been my daily for a couple years now, with jetbrains tooling and vscode. The only reason I boot back into windows is if I have to work on a .net framework app with visual studio. And Ubuntu is even explicitly supported by dell and Lenovo? It's a no brainer tbh. I'm lucky that my corporate IT is cool with it: I showed them how it supports drive encryption, can join our domain and run our patching software to meet all their 'policy'
I've been pleasantly surprised at how far I can go using Rider to do .NET development on a Mac. I was able to do pretty much everything, including running SQL Server in a container.
Realistically, many people will use registry hacks and other forms of piracy to get those updates for free, of course, just like people did with Windows 7. Only businesses or people afraid of viruses will pay, but that's probably enough for Microsoft.
I find it quite confusing to seemingly target people still unaware that Windows 10 is going out of support, but also list FTP/SSH/git/SVN integration as a feature. The people who use version control probably know what alternatives are or aren't available (even if they'd rather not need to find an alternative).
Worth noting: For home users, the first year of that Win 10 Extended Support appears to cost only $30. Has MS decided that "make it cheap & easy to be legal" is their best counter-piracy strategy?
This really just blows my mind that Microsoft believes people are going to throw their perfectly functional laptops/desktops into the trash. All Microsoft has to do to keep people on Windows and in the Microsoft ecosystem would be to offer a supported version of Windows 11 without the CPU and TPM 2.0 requirements.
For me, every one of the older machines in my household (laptops and desktops) that are currently on Windows 10 that cannot run Windows 11 in a fully supported manner will be migrated to a KDE based Linux distro.
This is, in fact, the point. They do not want the support burden and negative security posture of supporting billions of computers that cannot have a locked bootloader.
Tbf it was the same story when Windows XP went EoL and by now almost all of those have been replaced. So what's most likely is that Windows 10 will stick around for some time until it silently fades away, just like XP did, regardless of CPU/TPM shenanigans.
Average computer literacy of computer users is at an all time low. If trillion dollar company says it's time to consume more product, they must know something I don't.
You can install Win 11, but not in-place. Need to use boot media. This is an obstacle for many people, but not someone who would I stall Linux. (From boot media)
Tried this with my mother. I had to rebuild the machine with Windows 11 LTSC afterwards. Which she hates but less than Linux which was totally unusable for her.
YMMV but this isn't a real option for a lot of people.
My 87 years-old dad has no idea what OS he runs and migrating a laptop to KDE gave him a stable system with none of the confusing commercial offers, uncontrolled upgrades and forced account creations.
I've been pondering switching to Linux for my mother in-law that has a pretty limited use of her computer (online groceries, emails mostly) and their page is pretty unconvincing in that case. I mean yeah OK, you guys have extensive customization, virtual desktops and all the bells and whistles that appeal to power users, but is it easy to put it in the hands of someone else without having to do customer support all year long?
Try again with Ubuntu’s Gnome if you’ll have an opportunity. The “problem” with KDE is that it tries to look like and behave similar to Windows, but it’s not, so older people that remembered how to deal with one UI are confused when what looks similar in reality behaves differently. And it results in frustration.
Gnome, on the other hand, provides a totally different UI, so user immediately identifies that it is different and needs to be learned a bit. But thanks to Gnome being pretty coherent and simple in how UI works, it usually takes very little time to learn and then they just keep using it. I experimented with my parents, father is 70, mother 65, and they both earned default Ubuntu very quickly and don’t have any issues using it, unlike win10+, which constantly raised questions and frustrations that something changed (MS likes to bring idiotic widgets to panels and menus after updates no matter that nobody asked for them).
I now run KDE on Fedora after I got fed up with snaps and bugs in Ubuntu 24.04.
For linux newbies, I'd actually suggest checking out Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop. I used to run Mint a long time ago and recently installed it for someone trying to change from Windows. it was nice to see that they still provide a good, preconfigured UX. And no snaps. It's probably simpler than KDE but not too simple.
I find Plasma much more pleasant to use than Windows' shell. There's no specific big feature that makes it stand out, but it works just a little more smoothly in almost everything it does.
Maybe it's a case of [1], but I think Plasma is ready for the average desktop user. The other parts of the system may have some ways to go.
#1: You can install Win 11 on older machines from boot media.
#2: End-of-updates isn't the security vulnerability large software vendors make it out to be, in the context of PC use. The paragraph below the first picture is FUD.
Gnome remains the most popular Linux desktop, despite the hatred it receives from hardcore Linux users, just because it's the default in Ubuntu and Fedora.
Other than Aurora Shell, but many people prefer to separate ChromeOS from other Linux Distros.
Pet_Ant|9 months ago
After that it was Konqueror with the different protocols like "wk:" in the address bar to search Wikipedia.
Then when I learned more, it just seemed like Qt was a much more capable foundation to build a desktop on, and I wanted to bet on the winner.
In the end KDE did win the desktop... because they built WebKit (as KHTML) and everything is now a webapp and the desktop is otherwise irrelevant.
rhabarba|9 months ago
When, why and how became this a good thing?
carlosjobim|9 months ago
A modern classic absurdity: Linux enthusiasts who purchase MacBooks and use them to do all their computing in shitty web apps.
blyry|9 months ago
TYPE_FASTER|9 months ago
jeroenhd|9 months ago
Realistically, many people will use registry hacks and other forms of piracy to get those updates for free, of course, just like people did with Windows 7. Only businesses or people afraid of viruses will pay, but that's probably enough for Microsoft.
I find it quite confusing to seemingly target people still unaware that Windows 10 is going out of support, but also list FTP/SSH/git/SVN integration as a feature. The people who use version control probably know what alternatives are or aren't available (even if they'd rather not need to find an alternative).
bell-cot|9 months ago
alyandon|9 months ago
For me, every one of the older machines in my household (laptops and desktops) that are currently on Windows 10 that cannot run Windows 11 in a fully supported manner will be migrated to a KDE based Linux distro.
jeroenhd|9 months ago
ESU costs $30 for one year, $60 for two years. That's a lot cheaper than a new laptop.
freeone3000|9 months ago
RedShift1|9 months ago
Zambyte|9 months ago
the__alchemist|9 months ago
nicholasbraker|9 months ago
neepi|9 months ago
YMMV but this isn't a real option for a lot of people.
liotier|9 months ago
0xAFFFF|9 months ago
selivanovp|9 months ago
Gnome, on the other hand, provides a totally different UI, so user immediately identifies that it is different and needs to be learned a bit. But thanks to Gnome being pretty coherent and simple in how UI works, it usually takes very little time to learn and then they just keep using it. I experimented with my parents, father is 70, mother 65, and they both earned default Ubuntu very quickly and don’t have any issues using it, unlike win10+, which constantly raised questions and frustrations that something changed (MS likes to bring idiotic widgets to panels and menus after updates no matter that nobody asked for them).
kalaksi|9 months ago
For linux newbies, I'd actually suggest checking out Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop. I used to run Mint a long time ago and recently installed it for someone trying to change from Windows. it was nice to see that they still provide a good, preconfigured UX. And no snaps. It's probably simpler than KDE but not too simple.
GrantMoyer|9 months ago
Maybe it's a case of [1], but I think Plasma is ready for the average desktop user. The other parts of the system may have some ways to go.
[1]: https://xkcd.com/2501/
the__alchemist|9 months ago
#2: End-of-updates isn't the security vulnerability large software vendors make it out to be, in the context of PC use. The paragraph below the first picture is FUD.
unknown|9 months ago
[deleted]
rhabarba|9 months ago
jeroenhd|9 months ago
Other than Aurora Shell, but many people prefer to separate ChromeOS from other Linux Distros.
Zambyte|9 months ago
gbin|9 months ago