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Review: KDE Linux and GNOME OS
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
Despite these warnings, I found that for the few days I was running GNOME OS and KDE Linux, the systems were stable and usable. They didn't feel particularly experimental or unreliable. Perhaps I was just lucky, running these systems during a calm period of development, but they felt about on par with using other cutting-edge distributions such as Fedora or Kubuntu.
What I find interesting about using these two distributions, which have very similar missions, is the differences in the cultures of the two projects. KDE and GNOME have different styles, different philosophies embedded in them, and those differences are on display in these two distributions, especially when the user is switching back and forth between them.
GNOME OS has a fairly specific, narrow focus. It exists to showcase the latest GNOME software and that is what it does. That's pretty much all it does. GNOME OS, one could say, has a specific mission and is sticking to it. The GNOME OS distribution is relatively small with no extras and no alternatives. GNOME is providing one tool per task and the tool going to be something the GNOME team provides.
For better or worse what GNOME provides tend to be relatively rigid, touch-oriented (rather than suited to desktop use), and it tends to feel "corporate". It all looks very polished, but uncoordinated (especially when it comes to themes). There are four pop-ups the first time we sign in with offers to enable location services and asking for money. The appearance is nice, but it's frustrating to use because of all the extra mouse movement and inconsistent menu styles. It's pretty more than functional.
Speaking of functions, having the installer wipe the user's hard drive without warning was a surprise and not the sort of thing I want to see from any distribution, let alone one which is geared toward technical users who tend to run multiple operating systems.
KDE Linux is, in many ways, the opposite of GNOME OS. Using the desktop is efficient without being pretty, it is flexible without offering as much functionality, it is clearly more user-focused in its design philosophy rather than corporate-focused. KDE doesn't enable location services or telemetry by default, it only showed me one pop-up window, and navigating the interface is pleasantly quick.