The variety of Linux it's not just based on their distributions, in fact, the distributions base their variety on desktop environments.
A desktop environment is basically what you see on your screen when you turn on the pc and everything loads, a set of graphical interfaces that helps you manage your computer.
In Linux there are a huge number of desktop environments, and much of the adaptability of the distros is given by the desktop environment they use, since this is what the user generally shapes to their liking, or at least it comes first. that modifies.
Desktop environments do not make the distro but they do give it a large part of its personality and obviously its functionality.
Among the most popular and used desktop environments we have:
- KDE.
- gnome.
- Unity.
- Cinnamon.
- XFCE.
- LXDE.
Although they are not all nor the vast majority of those that exist, they are the best known and the most used and each one has its own concepts and philosophies.
For instance, KDE It boasts of being the most complete desktop environment (and the heaviest). You can configure many, many things about its appearance and its functionality simply with a few well-placed clicks and at the concept level it is the most similar to Windows (that's why the bar below, the list of windows and all that).
It has tools for almost everything you want to configure, all centralized in the same control panel, which makes it highly recommended for any type of user.
It is also said that it is the most advanced and with the most fluid development, since its community of both users and developers is HUGE, without a doubt it is a spectacular environment.
The technology it uses is QT, for which it also has a large number of very interesting native applications and in fact, the graphical interfaces in QT are the ones that look perfect on any operating system.
Then we have Gnome.
Gnome is the homolog of KDE with regard to size and development; but both its technologies and its concepts are totally different from those of KDE.
It is said that Gnome it is a lighter environment than KDE although it is not necessarily so. The real difference between one and the other is their current concept (Gnome Shell) of a clean interface, which many like and others simply don't.
It is based on GTK and is undoubtedly one of the most innovative concepts presented at the environment level, since it breaks with many of the paradigms that we all have of what is "classic" in a desktop environment.
Perhaps the most interesting thing that this environment introduces is that when you display the main menu you have everything separated, in one part you have the activities and desktops manager, where you can see at once how many things you have open and in which desktops you have them located and on the other side you have the complete list of applications that you can filter through a search engine that also serves to search in Google.
In fact, Gnome as such it is not a desktop environment today, Gnome is the basis for a desktop environment, it is technology Gnomeso to speak and various desktop environments are based on that technology, such as Gnome Shell aforementioned.
Inside is those several lies Unity, the desktop environment based on Gnome de Ubuntu.
Unity try to follow that same line of cleanliness and functionality of Gnome, although it also has its lovers and its detractors.
Among its advantages we find that famous global menu integrated, the one that OsX has, quite useful to save space in the applications and also very comfortable.
Unlike Gnome Shell, Unity brings an application bar to the left side of the screen where you can take control of your open applications or simply have everything you want at hand and use to use it with a single click.
The concept of Unity It is to unite everything, that you can get everything faster or use it faster, such as the "communication" menus where you have everything related to chat, Email and social networks at the click of a button.
But Unity brings two concepts that really differentiate it from other environments: Dash y HUD.
Dash is like who says the traditional "beginning" of Windows, but on steroids. From the Dash you can search absolutely everything that is on your PC; from images, music, folders or files ... to applications. Within it dash are the lens and scopes, which would be the sections where you get the things (eg the lens / scope of documents) that make it extensible to Dash allowing you things like searching directly on the Wikipedia, The Pirate Bay, Youtube and many other things.
HUD on the contrary, it is a slightly more advanced tool aimed at users who do not like to separate from the keyboard, pressing the Alt key displays a mini Dash that works as a search engine; You deploy it, you write an order with the application open (eg Save) and it will show you everything that is save or related to that, then you choose what you want to execute, and it is executed.
Then we have Cinnamon, a desktop environment based on gnome-shell that rescues the traditional of a slightly older desktop environment.
New Concepts does not integrate too many more than the 3D desktop view and a fairly marked minimalism. It is a very natural environment for any user since it presents the traditional concept of Windows o KDE, as well as Mac (no global menu).
Its biggest advantage is Mint Menu, which is again the well-known beginning of Windows but with a much clearer and well-defined organization, that is the strongest point of Cinnamon, which is simple and functional, although not as light as it could be.
Then we have XFCE, who already leaves Gnome and uses its own GTK-based technology. The concept of XFCE is to stay simple, light, and fat-free (unnecessary stuff).
It is one of the most stable environments that exists, it is one of the most modifiable and it is also very light.
Its development is slow but safe and each update makes it grow a little more without losing any of its functionality.
This environment does not seek to be the most beautiful or the one with the most things, but the most productive and moldable, you simply take it as a rough diamond and do what you want with it, it will work and that is what matters.
It has to do everything I say, a very complete and detailed control center that allows you to move everything within the environment and leave it to your liking.
Now XFCE it is one of the fastest growing desktop environments due to the dissatisfaction of many users with larger environments.
And last but not least, we have LXDE.
LXDE has only one concept in mind and is extremely lightweight. LXDE it can run on just 128mb of ram in a decent way and is perfectly functional. It has several concepts similar to XFCE and they share some structures and GTK technology.
It is an environment, in addition to being light, very configurable, although not as simple to do as in XFCE since many of the things must be modified in files and it is not done through any unified control panel. All this is obviously done to maintain the lightness of the environment, which avoids being too heavy and is based on the total lightness, lighter than LXDE and it is no longer a desktop environment as such.
Now you can sit down and compare certain things ...
I just mentioned six desktop environments, the most popular and widely used, and I mentioned several distributions earlier.
There are many distributions that use these desktop environments and that not only use them but modify and adapt them to give their distribution personality.
All this in contrast to "the competition" (to call it somehow) Windows y Mac Os.
Each one has its own desktop environment and each environment its concept but… Are they as modifiable or adaptive as those of GNU / Linux? Are there so many different concepts?
There are simply things Linux can't be beat at, and variety is one of them.