Windows 7 Windows 7 vs. KDE

[Abarbarian]

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/kde-vs.-windows-7-1.html

In both Windows 7 and most implementations of KDE, the panel is placed along the bottom of the screen -- exactly where Windows 95 placed it years ago in an effort not to look too much like Mac OS. In both environments, too, you can lock and auto-hide the panels, reposition them on any side of the screen, add widgets to them as you please, and add extra panels. The most that differs in these basic features is their names.
KDE, though, goes beyond these basics. It allows you to change the width and length of the panel -- to morph it into a dock, in effect, and align it to the left, right, or center of the screen as you please.

In the same way, while both can display multiple clocks and sync your system time with an Internet site, only KDE allows you to adjust the fonts used in the display, or the option of using text-to-speech to announce the time, or setting the calendar to display the holidays of different countries or regions

The only feature that Windows' panel has that KDE's lacks is toolbars for addresses, links, and desktop icons -- features that I have never seen used, and that KDE users who want them can duplicate with the selection of the right widget and a bit of organization. In all other cases, KDE's panel equals or excels Windows -- never in a major way, but in dozens of small ones that add up to greater user control of basic functionality.

But KDE also introduces far more to the classic desktop. Unlike Windows, KDE also lets you set eight hot spots on the edges of desktops. Although Windows 7's advertising emphasized its three desktop effects -- shake, peak, and snap -- KDE offers several dozen, some of which don't require 3-D hardware acceleration. In KDE, you can also shade windows, rolling them up like window blinds, or else group them into a single tabbed window, placing related applications where you can switch between them without searching the desktop each time you switch.
Even more importantly, KDE is conceptually different from Windows 7's desktop. Although you can run KDE as a classic desktop if you choose, it also offers far more. By default, it includes virtual workspaces, giving you the potential to increase screen space indefinitely without the trouble of buying and setting up additional monitors.
Alternatively, you can set up your KDE installation by tasks with Activities, setting up a different set of icons and widgets for each one. Increasingly, you can even set up different views on different Activities, creating a different navigation set for each one.
None of these features has a counterpart in Windows 7 -- and are unlikely to in Windows 8, either, if the current development is any indication.

If you buy Windows Ultimate edition, you have far more applications than if you buy the Starter edition. Yet even these additions can't match the selection and variety of the thousands of applications available in any Linux distribution, both in general and specifically for KDE itself -- each available for download in a matter of minutes with no need of a credit card or a PayPal account.
Moreover, because of KDE's free licenses, KDE only needs to be downloaded once. Then it can be installed on as many computers as you like, without any concern for licenses or activation.
These advantages have been available for free software for over twenty-five years, of course. But in the past, they haven't been as attractive as they might have been, because the software didn't equal its proprietary alternatives.

Just a thought