21 Sept 2011

Users voted for best KDE-based Linux distribution... again!

Was it a clever step for me to start voting for the best KDE-based Linux distribution?
I don't know...
Anyway, a month ago I announced voting results. You can review that post here.
Strange enough, announcement did not stop votes. Other way round, number of votes almost doubled during last month!
Is it a good reason to make another announcement of voting results? Yes, it is.
So, what is the best favourite KDE-based Linux distribution, voted by visitors of blog Linux notes from DarkDuck?

Kubuntu 32
OpenSuSE 30
Chakra 11
Debian 9
Other9
Slackware 9
PC Linux OS 7
Aptosid 6
Pardus 6
Fedora 5
CTK Arch 4
Mageia 4
Mandriva 3
Mint KDE 3
Gentoo 2


Results of previous voting were questioned by many. They claimed that selection was not representative. There were about 90 votes.
This time I have about 140 votes. Did it change the proportion between the systems? No!
There are still 2 leaders which have minimal difference: both Kubuntu and OpenSuSE got more than 30 votes.
Leaders are followed by same trinity: Chakra, Debian and Other. But there is surprise: Slackware joined the pelethon.
Other distributions, including my favourite Mageia, got 5% or less.
What does it all mean for us anyway? That Kubuntu and OpenSuSE are true market leaders in KDE world. That other distributions also have their fans, but their number is much less than leaders'. That's Linux world, where everyone chooses the distribution he likes!
If you decided to give any distribution a try yourself, you can always use Buy Linux CDs site to obtain CD with it. Many distributions listed in the voting are available on that site directly. Others can be ordered via special comments/order form.

15 comments:

  1. As a Kubuntu user I can see why, but I'm surprised to see Fedora so far down the ranks, after my distro-hopping I found Fedora KDE to work better than OpenSUSE, perhaps less polished but it would at least update itself without breaking my system which OS did frequently.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @dnel:
    I bet there always will be disappointment for someone who does not see his beloved distro at the top of the list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm astonished to see Chakra there. Chakra is a small distro with a strong following, I hopped there, and there's everything I need and then some (I've never seen a working Qt Firefox until I installed Chakra)

    The Edn release, hopefully, killed the most troublesome bugs with the distro install routines, enabling people, finally, to test it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Anonymous:
    Chakra userbase is growing.I appreciate their consistency in approach, though it is not my cup of tea. Please read previous voting results, there were some discussions about Chakra in comments.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Other way round, number of votes almost doubled during last month!"
    "There were about 90 votes.
    This time I have about 140 votes."

    Your math is somewhat strange. Having an increase of 55% is far from doubling.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not surprised Slackware is there; it has been excelling on the KDE stability (preferring to be behind on releases than to take up the unstable ones)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've run aptosid (a user-friendly debian sid), modified to debian sid by the smxi script for years, with the KDE desktop. In polls, I never know what distro I should call mine, but I believe that adding debian to aptosid would put debian in third place. I've tried GNOME every few years, but it seems crippled in comparison, so KDE has been my desktop for about 15 years - since Gael Duval first released Mandrake.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Paleoflatus:
    Aptosid is based on Debian sid, and that's bonus and problem of that distro. I tried it a couple of times with different results. You can have a look here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I believe user opinion (and voting) is biased due to limited knowledge. Having used Kubuntu and Mandriva I can't believe they're so far aparted... isn't it a case of too few Mandriva users?

    I never used Mint, for instance. How can I judge it? How would a Mint user who never used Mandriva compare the two? I guess polls should take this into account, though unfortunately I cannot offer a solution to the problem.

    S. Bob

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Anonymous:
    I think most users settle on the distribution they are comfortable with. That's why Kubuntu and OpenSuSE won so many supporters: people feel themselves comfortable there. For example, OpenSuSE was never comfortable for me, that's why I would never stop distro-hopping at this OS.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Every now and then I stray from openSuse. I had problems on several systems with Kubuntu which worked fine with openSuse. So, back to openSuse.

    Though, now the problem is with KDE itself and the surge of unintuitive nonsense flooding into the UI. Still on openSuse, but now using LXDE while hoping for the Trinity project's success.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pardus for me is more user friendly than any other distros. I tried other KDE distros but they did not give the taste that Pardus gave. It is not a "perfect" distribution but I like it with its faults :D
    May be govermental support is the real fact to accept some mistakes/faults. I hope this distro will become as they tell "for freedom" absolutely.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I get used to Pardus. Also its features and tools. When i try another KDE distro, i seek and miss Pardus features. Because it is coming with full of usability. Codecks, offering non-free drivers, Office application suite and mostly known and loved programs are out of the box deployed and working.Just boot and enjoy. Some Turkish native figures also very pleasent. Like KNazar, Kaptan, PiSi, YALI, and etc. Taste it, give a try you won't regret...

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm not very experienced in KDE. My first distro was Ubuntu. I really liked it, but many small annoying things made me change to KDE. I have tried Kubuntu (too many bugs), PCLinuxOS (fast but kde crases very often, graphic in my case did work properly), OpenSuse (had problems with installation and as for me it's quite slow) and Pardus (lack of some software in repository). Each of them has its pluses and minuses. In my case the most suitable was Pardus. It's the most polished and working from box distro. I came to the conclusion that it's impossible to find the best distro. It just depends on you needs and your hardware.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @KenJennings: I agree that finger-bound UIa are not the best for desktops. But KDE is still standing against this fashion. I honestly dislike LXDE,but XFCE is good. As you could see, I have Salix XFCE installed now, and it was Mint XFCE before. Though, those are secondary after my favourite Mageia KDE.

    ReplyDelete