Debian 7 default DE?

[stipex]

I would like to know, what is the default desktop envoriment strategy for next stable Debian release? Since Gnome 3 is a major change from 2.x series, is it going to be a default DE in Debian 7?

[PhilGil]

Not sure if a conservative distro like Debian is ready for Gnome-shell. Its possible the devs will decide that Gnome 3 isn't stable enough for the next Debian release, and will go with Gnome 2 instead.

It may also be possible to make Gnome 3 fallback mode the default. I've been playing with a live USB of Fedora 15, and fallback mode is quite usable. The panels seem reasonably stable (at least as stable as Gnome2), customization and theming options are available and most of the core applets have already been ported.

[vbrummond]

By the time Debian 7 launches Gnome 3 will be fantastic I am thinking.

[dmhdlr]

By the time Debian 7 launches Gnome 3 will be fantastic I am thinking.

My hunch as well.

[Mr James]

Another KDE vote here.

[Anzhr]

By the time Wheezy is stable GNOME 3 will still be used by only a small percentage of people and be utterly irrelevant.

[Mr James]

Unity

[Drum.be]

i vote for the Xfce enviroment.

[Roel63]

What about "none", and provide a choice at booting the installer?

[Drum.be]

@Roel63: great idea

[qjqqyy]

What about "none", and provide a choice at booting the installer?

I think a choice when downloading the CD ISO is better.

[emariz]

Something to consider for the next version:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop- ... 00439.html

Basically, important Gnome maintainers propose to link some features of its features to systemd, which requires Linux, and known Debian developers protested because they believe that Gnome should try as hard as possible to be OS-independent.
Follow the discussion, it's interesting.

I don't have a side here yet. I understand that Debian has to be conservative (in general, not only in Stable) and that its developers should fight for portability, but I also believe that the Gnome developers shouldn't be preoccupied with tons of different scenarios because of a relatively small number of users.

[jw013]

Xfce is maturing very nicely. 4.8 is a large improvement over 4.6. By the time the wheezy freeze comes, I think Xfce will be able to compare with GNOME and KDE in terms of functionality and it seems to have been doing a better job not alienating its users lately. Haven't used Xfce lately (switched to barebones openbox as wm, a panel, and not much else), but just throwing that option out there.

[dmhdlr]

What about "none", and provide a choice at booting the installer?

I think a choice when downloading the CD ISO is better.

qjqqyy you like Windows, huh?

[vbrummond]

I can understand but I do not like the move of Gnome becoming Linux dependant. :/ It is a tough choice though.

[edbarx]

While installing Debian I already have the choice to install whatever desktop/window manager I may deem fit. First, I install the basic system, then I use apt-get to install a GUI.

Debian is already offering choice, but having the installer more flexible regarding the choice of a GUI, is an attractive idea especially for beginners.

[Mr James]

Well lets face it, Linux is FOSS and happens to be light years ahead of anything else in terms of hardware support and such. BSD and Hurd have been and always will play catch up. Linux is the most widely used and has a hundred companies backing it financially. I repeat: Linux is FOSS - which is the important thing.

[bugsbunny]

having the installer more flexible regarding the choice of a GUI, is an attractive idea especially for beginners.

I'm not so sure about that. Beginners would be overwhelmed by the DE choices offered (even ignoring pure WMs). If they know what they're looking for it's available. If they don't they get the default. Beginners like fewer choices (as a rule, the ones that don't tend not to be real beginners). Then as they get comfortable and get some experience they start to want more options and choices.

[Tadeas]

I'm not so sure about that. Beginners would be overwhelmed by the DE choices offered (even ignoring pure WMs). If they know what they're looking for it's available. If they don't they get the default. Beginners like fewer choices (as a rule, the ones that don't tend not to be real beginners). Then as they get comfortable and get some experience they start to want more options and choices.

Opensuse installer gives this choice (IIRC, there's KDE, Gnome and "other" that will open a submenu with more choices). It gives a brief description of each of them and it says that the choice is up to you. And I don't think Opensuse is considerably less beginner friendly compared to Debian .

[emariz]

Opensuse installer gives this choice (IIRC, there's KDE, Gnome and "other" that will open a submenu with more choices). It gives a brief description of each of them and it says that the choice is up to you. And I don't think Opensuse is considerably less beginner friendly compared to Debian.

Let's see the description. I do doubt that a new user understand the difference among desktop environments just by reading those lines.

· K >
This is KDE >
An über kool desktop environment >
with Konfusing >
and never-ending Kmenus >
and a Ktheme that died >
years ago >
with MacOS's Aqua >
Set the mouse and touch-pad properties.

· Gnome aims at simplicity.

· This is Xfce, something in between, with a super-ultra and geek-fond context menu.