Yes, there are many. Personally, I'm using Windowmaker. However, you said you're keen on a 'Start' button, and there are numerous which offer this concept as well. It ranges from very old-school approaches like FVWM95 to monsters like XPDE. My recommendation amongst those is IceWM which looks and works extremely smooth.

For more choices, browse http://xwinman.org/. It lists the most important ones. The new Enlightenment (E17) looks very promising, for example. I might give it a try in the near future...

Edited by Mr Creosote at 09:43 on February, 20th 2006

No need for conversion here, I already love linux but just not the desktop part. I might be convinced to try a dual boot ( Linux / Windows )on my own computer sometime in future, when I'll arrange my stuff and make some space. Right now I have linux on a different comp and I don't need GUI .

I just know Gnome and KDE. Are there many others ?
[edit] Feodora 4 . What do you use ?

Edited by Dexterus at 07:00 on February, 20th 2006

Long time, no see - welcome back

There's more than Gnome, you know. And also more than KDE for that matter, in case any of the Germans here want to jump on that. I hardly find it believable that the in the vast amount of window managers, you can't find any which you consider usable. I'm not trying to convert you or anything, but just saying one option out of many is bad isn't a very good argument.

Edited by Mr Creosote at 00:00 on February, 19th 2006

Hello. Just decided to check out this old place again.

On topic: I dislike Linux as a desktop ( GUI ) , I find GNOME to be very buggy, even if not fatal bugs , but text mode / ssh Linux and a Windows graphical browser is how I spend most of my life.

Well, maybe is just bad habit, beeing used to the crappy start menu, but , that's it...

Xine (video player) does that. Mine is set to 'Master of the known Universe' which gives me access to all settings, no matter how obscure. Not that I've ever touched even half of them, but it's still nice to see I'm not missing anything

Correct.

But there is nothing wrong in having the option to ask for a helping hand or an optional wizard, which uses several default-values.

I remember some applications, that offered several UIs (easy, medium, expert, hardcore, etc.), but none of them is current anymore, sadly.

Welcome back

Anyway, that article is of course written from a very 'old-school' perspective, but the point summed up in that diagram about the 'easy route' and the 'direct route' is as valid as ever.

The question isn't so much the old 'OS A is better than OS B' to me. What's more interesting is the definition of user-friendliness. In my opinion, it's hardly a 'friendly' attitude if a system is holding my hand and deciding things for me instead of letting me do what I want. Of course, it's also not very user-friendly to keep the user in the dark and not help him if help is wanted and needed.

In the end, it all comes down to choice concerning the UI. And that's where many operating systems fail. All those which 'enforce' their own ideas of how things should be done, in fact.

Hi!

I mostly agree with the arguments in this article:
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

But, as stated also as an comment in the authors blog, he is a bit too extreme and one-sided. Linux is not made to be only one (the complex) way, even if there are its roots. (If ignored, that Linux itself is "only" a kernel).

Funcionality and User-Friendly-Interfaces are not the same, but also no real opposites, as there may not only be users who want a free, open, complex system on one side and a user-friendly system on the other side.

I think there are a lot of users, which would like to have a free _and_ user-friendly OS....

Ah, blabla... Always the same subject...

That is a good article. I'm reminded of a time in a programming class when it was obvious that the professor hadn't touched a Windows machine in a very long time. The class had to guide him through basically everything and here this guy has a Ph.D in Computer Science.

Exactly my point. As this article rightly says:Goes all ways, of course, but all these articles are reactions to the tons of stupid "Linux isn't ready for the desktop" ones...

Reminds me of the time I tried to install Linux. I guess it is just what you are used to.

I've read quite a few articles in the same vein. The one I liked most is this one: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/47221/index.html. This quote alone made my day:Sums up all the similar 'reversed' article premises nicely

So you're new to windows and you want to say you're linux desktop goodbye, then this might be a good read for you http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/5937.html