Bill Jonas on Thu, 4 Oct 2001 12:55:53 -0400


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Re: [PLUG] A few newbie questions :-)


On Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 12:45:54PM -0400, Greg Lopp wrote:
> We're helping out a newbie.  I figured that this is most opportune
> time to clear up that common point of confusion.  GNOME and KDE
> are desktop environments that rely on a window manager.  Window
> managers rely on X.  They each provide separate functions.

Point taken.

That said, I've seen the term "window manager" defined before.  I've
never seen anyone give a definition of "desktop environment".  I feel
like I know what it is, but when I think about it, I realize that I only
have a vague notion of what such a beast is.  (Perhaps even a recursive
definition -- "What is a desktop environment?  It's a collection of
software like GNOME and KDE that provide window-management and other
services.  What are KDE and GNOME?  Desktop environments.")

Anyone have a good, unambiguous definition of "desktop environment"?

-- 
Bill Jonas    *    bill@billjonas.com    *    http://www.billjonas.com/
"They that can give up  essential  liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."        -- Benjamin Franklin

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