KDE or GNOME?

I published a post recently when I told how many and which systems are installed on my laptop.
If you remember (or have read it just now), my preferred system is Kubuntu. Because of KDE.

Why KDE? I don't know... I sat down once and decided to put all the pros and contras of KDE and GNOME in one list. Result was quite strange... Kubuntu had same number of  "pros" and "contras" on KDE side. While GNOME only gave me "pros" and no significant "contra". So, there is something irrational which makes me to choos KDE when I boot my laptop.

What are the actual Pros and Contras I found?

KDE

You can see my Kubuntu desktop on the screenshot.

+ Widgets instead of Conky

I found them very useful. They are not so advanced as Conky options. But they fulfil my requirements to see processor, memory and network usage in dynamic. And they are much easier to configure than Conky. Yes, there are lots of ready-to-use Conky styles available for download in the Internet. But if I need to change something minor in pre-cooked configuration, it is much easier to do in Kubuntu's (Plasma) widgets.

+ 2 lines for quick launch panel and applications on the panel

I have quite wide task bar panel at the bottom, as you can see. This allows me to pack my quick launch buttons into two lines. This saves space on the panel for task buttons. They, in turn, also can line themselves into two lines when required. It means I can clearly see name of each application on the taskbar. GNOME has different approach. I could not manage to create two lines of quick launch icons. Taking into account that GNOME in Ubuntu and Debian by default has three items (Applications, Places and System), it leaves almost zero space on that panel for taskbar. I had to use additional panel for it. As a result, two panels in GNOME take more space than one panel in KDE. Yes, I know that I can put panels to the side, and new Unity desktop has it by default. But I am too old-school. I want to see my panels at the bottom.

- Glitchy Copy function in Dolphin

Whenever I need to copy files using Dolphin, I get a problem. In very rare cases it is finished successfully. As workaround, I make my important copying in Midnight Commander.

- Chrome function "Create Desktop Shortcut" is not working properly

I like Google Chrome browser. From the version 1 till version 10 which I use now to write this post on Blogger. Chrome has brilliant function to create "Application shortcut". It effectively creates shortcut for web page which is to be launched without navigation bar and tabs. Just normal window with web page working as application. Very useful for GMail account, for example. Unfortunately, when creating application shortcut for desktop in KDE, it does not appear on desktop, as you would expect. This is because Desktop as folder has little to do with KDE's Plasma desktop. Shortcut indeed goes into ~/Desktop folder. And you can even create a launcher on Plasma using this shortcut. But it gets no icon from the application page, and process itself is something annoying. It should not work like this, you know. I found a workaround though... Chrome can place shortcuts on desktop and... into the menu. And then right-click on the menu item allows you to put shortcut to Desktop. Yes, this time it is Plasma Desktop, not just ~/Desktop. Job's done, and you can now remove menu item. Works like magic, but still additional unnecessary movements are required.

GNOME

Again, my Ubuntu desktop is on the right. You can see, it is less sophisticated than my KDE desktop.

+ GNOME Baker

The best Free and Open Source disk burner software I found so far. Since my first acquittance with KDE in SLAX I found that KDE's default K3B is a glitchy stuff. I tried K3B in different Linuxes, but result is still the same. Then I tried Brasero, which is default burner in Ubuntu's GNOME. Result is slightly better, but still far from ideal. The balance between burning quality and free software was found in the GNOME Baker. Unfortunately, it depends on big chunk of GNOME, so I cannot install it in my Kubuntu. One more reason for me to keep Ubuntu on my HDD. As I said, Baker is a compromise for me. What is actually best result? It is Ahead Nero. It is one of applications I keep my WinXP for. Nero can fail to burn my CDs too, but it happens in very rare occasions. Unfortunately, Nero is neither open source, nor free software. And it costs a lot...

+ Panels are desktop-dependent

You can have different set of applications on each desktop in GNOME. Thus, you can have dedicated desktop for work (office applications), web (browser, Skype, IM), games. You don't need to find Skype button on taskbar somewhere between LibreOffice Writer and Chrome. For me, that is more convenient.

- Nothing

I could not think of any "contras" in GNOME, which were not previously mentioned as "pros" in KDE.

And which desktop manager do you prefer? Why?

How many systems do you have installed?