What's the difference between Xubuntu and Ubuntu?

[Michael Haney]

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 10:31 AM, Steve Lamb <grey at dmiyu.org> wrote:
> Michael Haney wrote:
>> Then why do XFCE and Gnome look so much alike?  I was always told it
>> was a fork of Gnome.
>
>    Because they don't?  Are you judging by xfce-desktop in Ubuntu or a base
> XFCE install?  Compare these two screenshots.  The first is from Fedora.  I
> was looking for a screenshot of a recent Debian release to compare to Ibex but
> oh well, this'll do. Specifically note the panel along the top bottom.
>
> http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/index.php?linux_distribution_sm=Fedora%208%20Xfce%20Spin
>
>    Now look a at this screenshot and the same panels top and bottom.
>
> http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/index.php?linux_distribution_sm=Xubuntu%208.10%20Intrepid%20Ibex
>
>    The first screenshot is pure XFCE.  The second which is of Xubuntu Ibex
> clearly has the GNome top panel with XFCE's top panel moved to the bottom.
> Compare both of those two this which is GNome...
>
> http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/index.php?linux_distribution_sm=Ubuntu%208.10%20Intrepid%20Ibex
>
>    ...and then this of stock XFCE one to the Fedora pic above...
>
> http://www.xfce.org/images/about/screenshots/4.4-1.png
>
>    ...and it is clear that Xubuntu is not stock XFCE.
>
>>   Even those in my Ubuntu Users Group said it was.
>
>    Sadly, not all people who attend User Groups know what's what about
> everything.  Wikipedia provides a good history of XFCE's development.  You'll
> note at no time does it mention merging with GNome; only adopting GTK as its
> toolkit.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfce
>
>    And if you mistrust Wikipedia there's always XFCE's own site where there
> is one instance of "gnome" listed and it is optional.
>
> http://www.xfce.org/documentation/requirements
>
>> And yes Gnome did look like KDE long ago.  It had a menu button with
>> the  famous Gnome foot print symbol on it and worked like the KDE
>> application menu does today.  This was over 10 years ago on a copy of
>> Red Hat and Mandrake I was trying out in the 90's.
>
>    Which isn't to say it was a clone of KDE.  You might have a case if there
> were no other OSes which had a menu in the lower left from which one started
> programs.
>
> http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win95
> http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/qnx621
> http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/cde15solaris9
>
>    If we remove the notion of "lower left" but retain a menu from which one
> starts applications we can include about 3-4 more.  It was, and remains, a
> fairly common UI element.
>

The Gnome of Today is very different form the Gnome I knew 10+ year
ago.  The look is totally different and so are the menus.  Its a
complete 100% change from what it looked like before.

I wasn't saying it was a clone of KDE, that it looked like KDE.  Its
possible that the people maintaining the project made these changes to
differentiate Gnome from KDE because they did look similar.  Actually,
I prefer the new Gnome over KDE but I have to use Kubuntu 8.04 because
I can't fix the screen resolution problem due to the menu to select
your monitor type being "missing" from Gnome now.


-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
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