{"slug": "cde", "name": "CDE", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.05, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2025-12-29", "latest": "2026-09-23", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["CDE"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 797000785, "item_id": 49812549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812549", "by": "dlcarrier", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really liked CDE the first time I used it", "excerpt": "My theory on the term \"user experience\" is that the difference between an interface and an experience is that an experience is overt and memorable, whereas an interface is subtle and forgettable. For real life examples: A door that can be pushed in either direction is an interface. It does its job well, you can use it however you want without any consideration for how it works, and you aren't likely to even remember ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are we going to use the same Desktop UX forever? [video]"}, {"id": 742727281, "item_id": 46420455, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46420455", "by": "lproven", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CDE is still in active development.", "excerpt": "Sorry, but this line is wildly inaccurate: > that doesn't require long time abandoned C code https://github.com/NsCDE/NsCDE Not so Common Desktop Environment (NsCDE) 2.3 Latest on Jun 16, 2023 https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/files/ src 2025-11-25 CDE is still in active development. NsCDE is effectively abandoned.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["desktop environment", "vintage desktop environment"], "compared": [{"slug": "xfce", "name": "Xfce", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49807407", "title": "Are we going to use the same Desktop UX forever? [video]", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46584173", "title": "XFCE Is Great", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46398201", "title": "QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 797000785, "item_id": 49812549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812549", "by": "dlcarrier", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really liked CDE the first time I used it", "excerpt": "My theory on the term \"user experience\" is that the difference between an interface and an experience is that an experience is overt and memorable, whereas an interface is subtle and forgettable. For real life examples: A door that can be pushed in either direction is an interface. It does its job well, you can use it however you want without any consideration for how it works, and you aren't likely to even remember ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are we going to use the same Desktop UX forever? [video]"}, {"id": 745352048, "item_id": 46584503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46584503", "by": "kristopolous", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "CDE which is open source and actively maintained these days", "excerpt": "xfce way back in the day was trying to clone CDE which is open source and actively maintained these days https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/ (really. last release was in november 2025) Just in case you want an even more vintage experience. There's also people trying to keep the SGI experience alive, but this one is a clone: https://docs.maxxinteractive.com/ As for as early xfce check out https://xteddy.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "vintage desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XFCE Is Great"}, {"id": 742727281, "item_id": 46420455, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46420455", "by": "lproven", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CDE is still in active development.", "excerpt": "Sorry, but this line is wildly inaccurate: > that doesn't require long time abandoned C code https://github.com/NsCDE/NsCDE Not so Common Desktop Environment (NsCDE) 2.3 Latest on Jun 16, 2023 https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/files/ src 2025-11-25 CDE is still in active development. NsCDE is effectively abandoned.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop"}]}