{"slug": "kde-plasma", "name": "KDE Plasma", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like systems, developed by KDE.", "recommenders": 37, "commenters": 54, "warners": 6, "score": 31.218, "rising": 2.16, "first": "2025-11-23", "latest": "2026-10-28", "why": "HN commenters like it for being stable and snappy day to day, highly configurable out of the box, and polished enough to replace Windows or GNOME.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 38, "neutral": 12, "compare": 1, "warn": 5}, "spark": [3, 2, 4, 1, 4, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Stability", "Snappy performance"], "caveat": "Wayland bugs", "short_quote": "KDE is not just better than Windows, but it is way more configurable out of the box.", "icon": true, "domain": "kde.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["KDE Plasma"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like it for being stable and snappy day to day,", "cites": [{"id": 777094368, "item_id": 48568398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568398", "by": "BatteryMountain", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Its the most stable DE I've encountered for daily driving so far.", "excerpt": "I don't have historic use of kde but I switched to it about a year ago, after a big release, and its been awesome. Very stable for me, allows custom dpi's for each of my monitors, it doesn't break itself like gnome does. I haven't bothered with other DE's since I tried it, not even xfce (old favourite of mine for tablet & low spec pc), kde performs even well on low specs. And highly configurable out of the box. Its t", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 799360464, "item_id": 49960029, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960029", "by": "accrual", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am quite happy with the stock KDE Plasma 6 desktop.", "excerpt": "Many others have already replied and it is 6 days later, but I wanted to reply to say I am quite happy with the stock KDE Plasma 6 desktop. I use some themes, e.g. \"Breeze AlphaBlack\" gives a nice Win10-like pure black taskbar, lovely on OLED. But the rest is stock. It Just Works (tm).", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "Linux desktop", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 782562160, "item_id": 48910135, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910135", "by": "NelsonMinar", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than Windows 11", "excerpt": "One thing that's lovely about Linux is this kind of analysis is not only possible, but meaningful. These results will get reported back to the graphics software authors and the distribution packagers and the ecosystem will improve. There's no sense with Microsoft that kind of improvement is possible. I recently switched to Linux after years on Windows desktop, mostly because the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than", "context": "recently switched to Linux from Windows", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 759218096, "item_id": 47451131, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451131", "by": "kombine", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running Plasma Desktop for years", "excerpt": "I've been running Plasma Desktop for years and had to put up with graphical glitches in its X11 iteration. I switched to Wayland to years ago when Plasma 6 was released and all the glitches were gone. Additionally, overall snappiness and responsiveness of the desktop and window management improved markedly, I felt like a got a new computer. Granted, I had to acquire an AMD GPU for this transition but it was well wort", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}]}, {"text": " highly configurable out of the box,", "cites": [{"id": 737620192, "item_id": 46101262, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46101262", "by": "Ciantic", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is not just better than Windows, but it is way more configurable out of the box.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working \"somewhat\" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the", "context": "developer who switched to Linux from Windows in the past month", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows"}, {"id": 790031698, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 777094368, "item_id": 48568398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568398", "by": "BatteryMountain", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Its the most stable DE I've encountered for daily driving so far.", "excerpt": "I don't have historic use of kde but I switched to it about a year ago, after a big release, and its been awesome. Very stable for me, allows custom dpi's for each of my monitors, it doesn't break itself like gnome does. I haven't bothered with other DE's since I tried it, not even xfce (old favourite of mine for tablet & low spec pc), kde performs even well on low specs. And highly configurable out of the box. Its t", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}]}, {"text": " and polished enough to replace Windows or GNOME.", "cites": [{"id": 761766400, "item_id": 47610400, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47610400", "by": "conception", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "was blown away by the polish. Switching over my workstation this month for sure. Highly recommended", "excerpt": "Just another post saying stuck kde with the new plasma on it for my kids first computer and was blown away by the polish. Switching over my workstation this month for sure. Highly recommended", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop for kids' computer", "switched_from": "", "story": "Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March"}, {"id": 786900960, "item_id": 49181310, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181310", "by": "burnoutdv", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE Plasma which is what i use in private and at the last job is soooo much more polished", "excerpt": "> Granted, Windows 11 is not a perfect OS that is the fine art of an understatment to nit pick a line in this article. I recently changed jobs and this new one got quite tight managed Win11 devices. Its a work device, if I can work with it its fine. BUT, and thats a big but, Win11 is such a clusterfuck its unbelieavable. Without access to my usual sleught of tools like classic Shell it was very hard to get this syste", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux didn't just eat 10% of Windows market share, AI bots inflate the numbers"}, {"id": 776873024, "item_id": 48554564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48554564", "by": "tapoxi", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from GNOME to KDE around the time 6.0 shipped, and I've been very happy with it.", "excerpt": "I switched from GNOME to KDE around the time 6.0 shipped, and I've been very happy with it. GNOME aims to be Mac-like but in my experience makes a lot of weird decisions. I've been on GNOME since 1.4 (2001?) I had such a great time with KDE, and decided to promote it from just being on my \"Linux PC\" to all computers I own. I don't run Windows anymore, which is a nice feeling!", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 770413089, "item_id": 48150818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150818", "by": "everyday7732", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is doing a great job honestly.", "excerpt": "This was my experience with linux the first times I used it years ago when I lived in a different state, but I tried it last year and it's night and day. Kubuntu (Ubuntu with the KDE plasma desktop) is quite windows-like without the advertising and crappification. KDE is doing a great job honestly.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is crashes and bugs, especially in the Wayland session,", "cites": [{"id": 743761504, "item_id": 46485094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46485094", "by": "lifetimerubyist", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Plasma will crash on me 2-3 times per day just doing regular things", "excerpt": "KDE has come a long way but I still find it just too buggy to be usable as a daily driver\u2026which is unfortunate because I don\u2019t really like Gnome either but it\u2019s the least worst of all the real options at the moment. Plasma will crash on me 2-3 times per day just doing regular things but I can\u2019t even remember the last time Gnome crashed on me. The ghost of KDE4 still haunts me.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE onboarding is good now"}, {"id": 743636176, "item_id": 46477261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46477261", "by": "hexbin010", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So I just tried KDE with Fedora 43 on a 4 year old Intel Dell laptop (I've used Linux pretty extensively for 15+ years). It's hilariously bad", "excerpt": "So I just tried KDE with Fedora 43 on a 4 year old Intel Dell laptop (I've used Linux pretty extensively for 15+ years). It's hilariously bad : - I managed to make a process crash just clicking around the Settings app - Sleep doesn't work (spins up the fans, then turns them down, then turns off off displays etc but I then the fan are spinning, so something is running). Looking at the menu, supposedly Firefox is 'bloc", "context": "Linux user for 15+ years", "use_case": "laptop desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 790016512, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 789897329, "item_id": 49368583, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49368583", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if i launch `startplasma-wayland` pressing ANY key on my keyboard causes it to crash.", "excerpt": "My main WM is Window Maker but i use KDE Plasma for secondary accounts when i want to try stuff without 'polluting' my main user account. I can only use X11 with KDE Plasma because, for some unfathomable reason, if i launch `startplasma-wayland` pressing ANY key on my keyboard causes it to crash. Like. How.", "context": "", "use_case": "secondary accounts for trying things", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 745365025, "item_id": 46585314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46585314", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE Plasma keeps crashing and has weird issues", "excerpt": "I've been using XFCE for a long time now. I often give GNOME and KDE Plasma a try, but I have to tweak GNOME so much to make it usable, and KDE Plasma keeps crashing and has weird issues (Steam friends list being delayed for example), which just got worse when they switched to Wayland. I really do feel like XFCE on x11 is the logical choice, it \"just works\" and every app runs well (Discord has broken hotkeys on Wayla", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "XFCE Is Great"}]}, {"text": " which leaves some users on X11 and worried about its planned removal.", "cites": [{"id": 790016512, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 742685776, "item_id": 46417861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46417861", "by": "brooke2k", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love KDE but this would force me to abandon it", "excerpt": "> 11 one. 2025 is when it got real: we announced a formal end to Plasma\u2019s X11 session in early 2027. Really hoping they delay this. I love KDE but this would force me to abandon it :(", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE \u2013 Highlights from 2025"}, {"id": 790070932, "item_id": 49379433, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49379433", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am currently running Fedora 43/KDE Plasma", "excerpt": "That's a new take: Project with new release 1 day ago declared deprecated! I've been using Linux for around 2 decades. I am currently running Fedora 43/KDE Plasma ... and wait for it ... Xorg. Why? Because it works. It works well! Why don't I use Wayland? Because it breaks everything. - Screensharing is just wonky and inconsistent across applications. It has gotten better in the last 2 years, but it's still quite won", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xorg-Server 26.0.99.901"}, {"id": 789896032, "item_id": 49368502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49368502", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "compare", "quote": "when absolute basics of window management are somehow broken under KDE Wayland. Why that even has anything to do with Wayland I don't know. I just know that it all works perfectly when I use KDE X11.", "excerpt": "None of that matters if you don't have a HDR monitor, only have one monitor, and when absolute basics of window management are somehow broken under KDE Wayland. Why that even has anything to do with Wayland I don't know. I just know that it all works perfectly when I use KDE X11. Maybe other DEs/WMs have better Wayland implementations, I don't know.", "context": "single non-HDR monitor user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Stability", "summary": "Many daily drivers say it just works with few problems over years of use.", "quotes": [{"id": 777094368, "item_id": 48568398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568398", "by": "BatteryMountain", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Its the most stable DE I've encountered for daily driving so far.", "excerpt": "I don't have historic use of kde but I switched to it about a year ago, after a big release, and its been awesome. Very stable for me, allows custom dpi's for each of my monitors, it doesn't break itself like gnome does. I haven't bothered with other DE's since I tried it, not even xfce (old favourite of mine for tablet & low spec pc), kde performs even well on low specs. And highly configurable out of the box. Its t", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 799350208, "item_id": 49959388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959388", "by": "ozgrakkurt", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using KDE for 4-5 years on desktop by now and didn't have any big issues with it", "excerpt": "I have been using KDE for 4-5 years on desktop by now and didn't have any big issues with it so far. I was able to solve every single issue I had with it using a web search or an LLM in a couple minutes. Only major issue I had was because of cachyos (I think) or just some LLM commands I ran that broke my sound output so I had to reinstall the OS. I probably had more but was using other OS like EndeavorOS/Manjaro befo", "context": "Linux desktop user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}, {"id": 790748721, "item_id": 49421795, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421795", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-08-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Absolutely hassle-free since about 2 years", "excerpt": "Huh! I had to work with AIX and some AS400, HP-UX, SunOS/early Solaris, but mostly SINIX. Also held a Microsoft MCSE for WinNT 4 and IIS once. I abandoned Windows for personal use by about 1994, gotten fed-up/snapped because of the unreliability of finding network peers during private LAN-parties. While that instantly worked with some Linux booted from ONE 1.44MB floppy disk! OFC no gaming possible with that. But tha", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetBSD and my life (2005)"}]}, {"label": "Snappy performance", "summary": "Users find it responsive, sometimes faster than Windows 11 or their previous desktop.", "quotes": [{"id": 782562160, "item_id": 48910135, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910135", "by": "NelsonMinar", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than Windows 11", "excerpt": "One thing that's lovely about Linux is this kind of analysis is not only possible, but meaningful. These results will get reported back to the graphics software authors and the distribution packagers and the ecosystem will improve. There's no sense with Microsoft that kind of improvement is possible. I recently switched to Linux after years on Windows desktop, mostly because the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than", "context": "recently switched to Linux from Windows", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 759218096, "item_id": 47451131, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451131", "by": "kombine", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running Plasma Desktop for years", "excerpt": "I've been running Plasma Desktop for years and had to put up with graphical glitches in its X11 iteration. I switched to Wayland to years ago when Plasma 6 was released and all the glitches were gone. Additionally, overall snappiness and responsiveness of the desktop and window management improved markedly, I felt like a got a new computer. Granted, I had to acquire an AMD GPU for this transition but it was well wort", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 745379024, "item_id": 46586189, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46586189", "by": "kamikazechaser", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is better and more resource efficient", "excerpt": "I used XFCE (MxLinux) for 5 years until recently when I moved to KDE Plasma (Fedora) because of Wayland support. Imo, KDE is better and more resource efficient. I also got a free 10 fps boost on DotA 2 on the same hardware and settings. Zed and a lot of other apps are better supported on Wayland.", "context": "former XFCE user", "use_case": "desktop environment with Wayland", "switched_from": "XFCE", "story": "XFCE Is Great"}]}, {"label": "Configurability", "summary": "Praised as flexible and configurable out of the box, with settings easy to find.", "quotes": [{"id": 737620192, "item_id": 46101262, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46101262", "by": "Ciantic", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is not just better than Windows, but it is way more configurable out of the box.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working \"somewhat\" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the", "context": "developer who switched to Linux from Windows in the past month", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows"}, {"id": 790031698, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 799350208, "item_id": 49959388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959388", "by": "ozgrakkurt", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using KDE for 4-5 years on desktop by now and didn't have any big issues with it", "excerpt": "I have been using KDE for 4-5 years on desktop by now and didn't have any big issues with it so far. I was able to solve every single issue I had with it using a web search or an LLM in a couple minutes. Only major issue I had was because of cachyos (I think) or just some LLM commands I ran that broke my sound output so I had to reinstall the OS. I probably had more but was using other OS like EndeavorOS/Manjaro befo", "context": "Linux desktop user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}]}, {"label": "Polish", "summary": "Several users call it polished, some comparing it favorably to Windows 11.", "quotes": [{"id": 761766400, "item_id": 47610400, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47610400", "by": "conception", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "was blown away by the polish. Switching over my workstation this month for sure. Highly recommended", "excerpt": "Just another post saying stuck kde with the new plasma on it for my kids first computer and was blown away by the polish. Switching over my workstation this month for sure. Highly recommended", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop for kids' computer", "switched_from": "", "story": "Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March"}, {"id": 786900960, "item_id": 49181310, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181310", "by": "burnoutdv", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE Plasma which is what i use in private and at the last job is soooo much more polished", "excerpt": "> Granted, Windows 11 is not a perfect OS that is the fine art of an understatment to nit pick a line in this article. I recently changed jobs and this new one got quite tight managed Win11 devices. Its a work device, if I can work with it its fine. BUT, and thats a big but, Win11 is such a clusterfuck its unbelieavable. Without access to my usual sleught of tools like classic Shell it was very hard to get this syste", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux didn't just eat 10% of Windows market share, AI bots inflate the numbers"}, {"id": 770413089, "item_id": 48150818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150818", "by": "everyday7732", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is doing a great job honestly.", "excerpt": "This was my experience with linux the first times I used it years ago when I lived in a different state, but I tried it last year and it's night and day. Kubuntu (Ubuntu with the KDE plasma desktop) is quite windows-like without the advertising and crappification. KDE is doing a great job honestly.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}]}, {"label": "Window management", "summary": "Features like focus stealing prevention, window rules and a global menu are valued.", "quotes": [{"id": 784536432, "item_id": 49033527, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033527", "by": "frameset", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "One of my absolute favourite features on KDE Plasma with Wayland is the global setting to control what can steal focus.", "excerpt": "> I opened Slack on macOS, the icon kept bouncing in the dock for a few seconds. I got impatient, switched to Ghostty, and started typing. Just then, the Slack window appeared, stole focus from Ghostty and the git pull command was sent to the group chat. One of my absolute favourite features on KDE Plasma with Wayland is the global setting to control what can steal focus. It works wonderfully, and I always miss it wh", "context": "uses work mac or windows computers", "use_case": "focus stealing prevention", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 737620192, "item_id": 46101262, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46101262", "by": "Ciantic", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is not just better than Windows, but it is way more configurable out of the box.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working \"somewhat\" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the", "context": "developer who switched to Linux from Windows in the past month", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows"}, {"id": 745343952, "item_id": 46583997, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583997", "by": "upboundspiral", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have the widget for global menu right now in KDE Wayland. Its supported by all QT apps", "excerpt": "I have the widget for global menu right now in KDE Wayland. Its supported by all QT apps, and there's a wayland protocol pull request for it (unfortunaly stalled, as is tradition). Overall I like it a lot - enough of the apps I use support it (if you're a GTK fan then tough luck). merge request: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayland/wayland-protocols/-/merge_requests/52", "context": "", "use_case": "global menu on Wayland", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}]}, {"label": "Gaming", "summary": "Gamers report low input latency and better frame rates under Plasma.", "quotes": [{"id": 775832945, "item_id": 48489559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489559", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "when I switched to using KDE Plasma with X or Wayland, the keyboard input latency disappeared.", "excerpt": "When I switched to Linux from Windows last year I noticed I had a lot of keyboard input latency only when gaming. It was like I had ~100ms of input latency and it felt exactly the same as playing old school Quake I on a dial up connection without client side prediction turned on. It's like you're skating on ice with a delay when seeing the output vs when you performed the input. This was despite having a solid 60 FPS", "context": "switched from Windows to Linux last year", "use_case": "gaming without input latency", "switched_from": "niri", "story": "Linux latency measurements and compositor tuning"}, {"id": 745379024, "item_id": 46586189, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46586189", "by": "kamikazechaser", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is better and more resource efficient", "excerpt": "I used XFCE (MxLinux) for 5 years until recently when I moved to KDE Plasma (Fedora) because of Wayland support. Imo, KDE is better and more resource efficient. I also got a free 10 fps boost on DotA 2 on the same hardware and settings. Zed and a lot of other apps are better supported on Wayland.", "context": "former XFCE user", "use_case": "desktop environment with Wayland", "switched_from": "XFCE", "story": "XFCE Is Great"}, {"id": 797313312, "item_id": 49832082, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832082", "by": "ndiddy", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mean that's KDE Plasma 6 right? Over the past few years it's pretty much become the standard Linux DE.", "excerpt": "> The year of Linux will start the day we have a capable wayland desktop environment that is not foreign to Mac and Windows users without chasing stupid churn. I mean that's KDE Plasma 6 right? Over the past few years it's pretty much become the standard Linux DE. From https://pointieststick.com/2025/12/28/highlights-from-2025/ : > Today Plasma is the default desktop environment in a bunch of the hottest new gaming-f", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Wayland bugs", "summary": "Some users find the Wayland session buggy and stick with X11.", "quotes": [{"id": 790016512, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 789897329, "item_id": 49368583, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49368583", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if i launch `startplasma-wayland` pressing ANY key on my keyboard causes it to crash.", "excerpt": "My main WM is Window Maker but i use KDE Plasma for secondary accounts when i want to try stuff without 'polluting' my main user account. I can only use X11 with KDE Plasma because, for some unfathomable reason, if i launch `startplasma-wayland` pressing ANY key on my keyboard causes it to crash. Like. How.", "context": "", "use_case": "secondary accounts for trying things", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 789896032, "item_id": 49368502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49368502", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "compare", "quote": "when absolute basics of window management are somehow broken under KDE Wayland. Why that even has anything to do with Wayland I don't know. I just know that it all works perfectly when I use KDE X11.", "excerpt": "None of that matters if you don't have a HDR monitor, only have one monitor, and when absolute basics of window management are somehow broken under KDE Wayland. Why that even has anything to do with Wayland I don't know. I just know that it all works perfectly when I use KDE X11. Maybe other DEs/WMs have better Wayland implementations, I don't know.", "context": "single non-HDR monitor user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}]}, {"label": "Crashes", "summary": "Some report frequent crashes and broken sleep or settings.", "quotes": [{"id": 743761504, "item_id": 46485094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46485094", "by": "lifetimerubyist", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Plasma will crash on me 2-3 times per day just doing regular things", "excerpt": "KDE has come a long way but I still find it just too buggy to be usable as a daily driver\u2026which is unfortunate because I don\u2019t really like Gnome either but it\u2019s the least worst of all the real options at the moment. Plasma will crash on me 2-3 times per day just doing regular things but I can\u2019t even remember the last time Gnome crashed on me. The ghost of KDE4 still haunts me.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE onboarding is good now"}, {"id": 743636176, "item_id": 46477261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46477261", "by": "hexbin010", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So I just tried KDE with Fedora 43 on a 4 year old Intel Dell laptop (I've used Linux pretty extensively for 15+ years). It's hilariously bad", "excerpt": "So I just tried KDE with Fedora 43 on a 4 year old Intel Dell laptop (I've used Linux pretty extensively for 15+ years). It's hilariously bad : - I managed to make a process crash just clicking around the Settings app - Sleep doesn't work (spins up the fans, then turns them down, then turns off off displays etc but I then the fan are spinning, so something is running). Looking at the menu, supposedly Firefox is 'bloc", "context": "Linux user for 15+ years", "use_case": "laptop desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 745365025, "item_id": 46585314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46585314", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE Plasma keeps crashing and has weird issues", "excerpt": "I've been using XFCE for a long time now. I often give GNOME and KDE Plasma a try, but I have to tweak GNOME so much to make it usable, and KDE Plasma keeps crashing and has weird issues (Steam friends list being delayed for example), which just got worse when they switched to Wayland. I really do feel like XFCE on x11 is the logical choice, it \"just works\" and every app runs well (Discord has broken hotkeys on Wayla", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "XFCE Is Great"}]}, {"label": "X11 removal", "summary": "Users relying on X11 worry about the planned end of the X11 session.", "quotes": [{"id": 742685776, "item_id": 46417861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46417861", "by": "brooke2k", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love KDE but this would force me to abandon it", "excerpt": "> 11 one. 2025 is when it got real: we announced a formal end to Plasma\u2019s X11 session in early 2027. Really hoping they delay this. I love KDE but this would force me to abandon it :(", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE \u2013 Highlights from 2025"}, {"id": 790016512, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}]}, {"label": "Cluttered UI", "summary": "Some find the interface cluttered, space-wasting, or confusing to theme.", "quotes": [{"id": 756585520, "item_id": 47286595, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47286595", "by": "wao0uuno", "date": "2026-03-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Plasma but oh man do they need to hire a real designer.", "excerpt": "I just want less of this: https://files.catbox.moe/uvxbea.png Look at it and tell me this is normal. I love Plasma but oh man do they need to hire a real designer. Someone with balls to unfuck the interface and move all advanced settings out of GUI into a well documented config file.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Plasma Bigscreen \u2013 10-foot interface for KDE plasma"}, {"id": 765734288, "item_id": 47858393, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858393", "by": "rezaprima", "date": "2026-04-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "happy to know that KDE has thrived for this long. It was my first DE I used from around 1998. And any time I use linux distro, I tend to gravitate to Kubuntu, although I find Gnome based Ubuntu quite nice. My only grief for KDE Plasma (at least until 2 years ago, I only use mac at home and Windows at work) is a lot of space wasted in its widgets. I still smile every time I remember fictional interview with Konqi, and", "context": "uses Mac at home, Windows at work", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE at 30"}, {"id": 737381968, "item_id": 46086373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46086373", "by": "mazone", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "overall it is a really great desktop environment", "excerpt": "I love kde and it is what i use but still having the bug from time to time that the panels dissapear and have to relaunch plasmashell, also i wish they merged the virtual desktops and activities into one concept and allowed different wallpapers on each. The theme settings is also confusing because of gtk apps, global theme etc. Feels everything around theming could be made nicer. Prob some more nitpicks but overall i", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE going all-in on a Wayland future"}]}, {"label": "Setup effort", "summary": "Switching or moving between machines can take significant reconfiguration.", "quotes": [{"id": 777225072, "item_id": 48576567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576567", "by": "em-bee", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i switched from GNOME to KDE just a few weeks ago", "excerpt": "i switched from GNOME to KDE just a few weeks ago. the main reason was that i thought GNOME had become unstable on fedora 42 because my session started crashing rather frequently. since i was already using some KDE applications i thought i'd give it a try. the switch cost me a week of productivity until i had it configured the way i liked it. (which was mostly to make it similar to GNOME/Mac with a main bar at the to", "context": "Fedora user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 798565329, "item_id": 49910333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49910333", "by": "embeng4096", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "since I use KDE at home", "excerpt": "I installed Kubuntu on a laptop for work, since I use KDE at home. It was slightly annoying to have to re-configure stuff like the DE settings, Dolphin etc though. Anyone have suggestions for syncing/version controlling KDE Plasma 6 configurations? (I made an Ask HN for it as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49910250)", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Upgrade your desktop: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS is now available"}]}], "who": [{"by": "red369", "context": "iPhone 13 Mini user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052927", "date": "2026-10-12"}, {"by": "accrual", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960029", "date": "2026-10-05"}, {"by": "ozgrakkurt", "context": "Linux desktop user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959388", "date": "2026-10-05"}, {"by": "noir_lord", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49733747", "date": "2026-09-16"}, {"by": "encom", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49733384", "date": "2026-09-16"}, {"by": "frameset", "context": "uses work mac or windows computers", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033527", "date": "2026-07-24"}, {"by": "NelsonMinar", "context": "recently switched to Linux from Windows", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910135", "date": "2026-07-14"}, {"by": "jauntywundrkind", "context": "daily driver desktop on SteamOS", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48580960", "date": "2026-06-17"}, {"by": "em-bee", "context": "Fedora user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576567", "date": "2026-06-17"}, {"by": "tapoxi", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48554564", "date": "2026-06-16"}, {"by": "nickjj", "context": "switched from Windows to Linux last year", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489559", "date": "2026-06-11"}, {"by": "rezaprima", "context": "uses Mac at home, Windows at work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858393", "date": "2026-04-21"}], "tags": ["for Windows switchers", "for GNOME switchers", "for gamers", "for daily driving"], "use_cases": ["desktop environment", "desktop environment on steamos", "daily driver desktop", "desktop environment settings", "desktop and mobile environment", "linux desktop"], "compared": [{"slug": "gnome", "name": "GNOME", "co": 12, "switched_from": 5, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "xfce", "name": "Xfce", "co": 4, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "fedora", "name": "Fedora", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "cinnamon", "name": "Cinnamon", "co": 2, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows", "name": "Windows", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "niri", "name": "niri", "co": 3, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "wayland", "name": "Wayland", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows-11", "name": "Windows 11", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49366474", "title": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48552535", "title": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49957116", "title": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49732036", "title": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033004", "title": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48555755", "title": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 3}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 2, "warn": 3, "recommend": 4}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 4}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 6, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 4}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804309585, "item_id": 50269349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50269349", "by": "garciansmith", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "That's just a option in KDE's system settings.", "excerpt": "I feel like I'm missing something because I don't understand how this wouldn't be just an OS system setting. Certainly not an app that you would pay for (or use an example of some great feature). That's just a option in KDE's system settings. And when I used to use Gnome 3, and Unity before that, and Gnome 2... just a setting.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment settings", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 800846832, "item_id": 50052927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052927", "by": "red369", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "all this Linux phone talk stated to make me have crazy thoughts about how much I want Plasma Mobile", "excerpt": "I've just written another post somewhere in this thread about discovering a nice feature in KDE Plasma, and remembered my recent search for a way to output HDMI from my old iPhone without ridiculous compression, and all this Linux phone talk stated to make me have crazy thoughts about how much I want Plasma Mobile. I was all set to write \"just give me Plasma Mobile on something the size of an iPhone 13 Mini, and I do", "context": "iPhone 13 Mini user", "use_case": "desktop and mobile environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?"}, {"id": 800555281, "item_id": 50034705, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034705", "by": "himata4113", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Now I run a custom kernel with custom KDE", "excerpt": "Following some of the comments about switching to linux the big one that enabled it for me is AI. I love to thinker, but sometimes I just want things to work and linux is known for very minor inconveniences that are pain to alter because you have to learn what kind of god forsaken build system the application uses and how it integrates with the desktop environment, but now I can just ask AI and it will be fixed by th", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 799360464, "item_id": 49960029, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960029", "by": "accrual", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am quite happy with the stock KDE Plasma 6 desktop.", "excerpt": "Many others have already replied and it is 6 days later, but I wanted to reply to say I am quite happy with the stock KDE Plasma 6 desktop. I use some themes, e.g. \"Breeze AlphaBlack\" gives a nice Win10-like pure black taskbar, lovely on OLED. But the rest is stock. It Just Works (tm).", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "Linux desktop", "switched_from": "Windows", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 799350208, "item_id": 49959388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959388", "by": "ozgrakkurt", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using KDE for 4-5 years on desktop by now and didn't have any big issues with it", "excerpt": "I have been using KDE for 4-5 years on desktop by now and didn't have any big issues with it so far. I was able to solve every single issue I had with it using a web search or an LLM in a couple minutes. Only major issue I had was because of cachyos (I think) or just some LLM commands I ran that broke my sound output so I had to reinstall the OS. I probably had more but was using other OS like EndeavorOS/Manjaro befo", "context": "Linux desktop user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}, {"id": 799348705, "item_id": 49959294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959294", "by": "throooooo", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "KDE is solid but yeah it's plain jane.", "excerpt": "I used to use XMonad (now on Hyprland) and feel that the tiling window manager experience you can get on Linux doesn't have an equivalent on macos. KDE is solid but yeah it's plain jane.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}, {"id": 798565329, "item_id": 49910333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49910333", "by": "embeng4096", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "since I use KDE at home", "excerpt": "I installed Kubuntu on a laptop for work, since I use KDE at home. It was slightly annoying to have to re-configure stuff like the DE settings, Dolphin etc though. Anyone have suggestions for syncing/version controlling KDE Plasma 6 configurations? (I made an Ask HN for it as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49910250)", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Upgrade your desktop: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS is now available"}, {"id": 797313312, "item_id": 49832082, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832082", "by": "ndiddy", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I mean that's KDE Plasma 6 right? Over the past few years it's pretty much become the standard Linux DE.", "excerpt": "> The year of Linux will start the day we have a capable wayland desktop environment that is not foreign to Mac and Windows users without chasing stupid churn. I mean that's KDE Plasma 6 right? Over the past few years it's pretty much become the standard Linux DE. From https://pointieststick.com/2025/12/28/highlights-from-2025/ : > Today Plasma is the default desktop environment in a bunch of the hottest new gaming-f", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop"}, {"id": 795739953, "item_id": 49733747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49733747", "by": "noir_lord", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like KDE a great deal but I also liked Cinnamon a great deal, if I had to go back it wouldn't cause me any issues, I only switched for Wayland support.", "excerpt": "Cinnamon was what I used before KDE, I like KDE a great deal but I also liked Cinnamon a great deal, if I had to go back it wouldn't cause me any issues, I only switched for Wayland support. So if you are happy on Cinnamon stay there (and it's Wayland support has caught up a lot). They both do an excellent job of not causing me pain, working the way I want and respecting me as a user, that's what a DE should be, if I", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "Cinnamon", "story": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review"}, {"id": 795734145, "item_id": 49733384, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49733384", "by": "encom", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Debian+KDE here. It's what I use to get away from OS excitement.", "excerpt": ">OS excitement Debian+KDE here. It's what I use to get away from OS excitement. I miss the 90's when nobody ever updated anything, and if they did it was on purpose and not something that happened behind your back. For example, the other day Google \"updated\" the clock/alarm/timer app on Android with pointless and annoying changes. A clock app does not need an update, ever. \"But...\" No! /usr/share/zoneinfo handles tha", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review"}, {"id": 791112305, "item_id": 49444519, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444519", "by": "hnsr", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I only recently switched to KDE+Wayland on much newer hardware and felt like it was snappy enough to not bother me.", "excerpt": "Yeah, I think they can be a combination of processor, GPU, memory architecture, and G(UI) software. But I too have ran a super snappy XFCE desktop for ages on pretty old hardware. I only recently switched to KDE+Wayland on much newer hardware and felt like it was snappy enough to not bother me. I also remember there were times were my much more powerful dedicated GPU was outperformed by my CPU integrated GPU, which I", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop on newer hardware", "switched_from": "XFCE", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 790871986, "item_id": 49429499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49429499", "by": "mikae1", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Plasma is so darn good these days.", "excerpt": "> Vanilla OS is built on Debian sid Tuxedo settled for Testing. Reason for Sid? > Additionally, with Vib (Vanilla Image Builder), anyone can customize their own system image, or even create their own distro with minimal effort. This sounds very intriguing! Been using Aurora (Universal Blue) for years, but there's always a package or two you need to layer. Updates have crapped out more than once because of these packa", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vanilla OS 3 Reunion \u2013 Immutable and Reproducible Operating System"}, {"id": 790748721, "item_id": 49421795, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421795", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-08-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Absolutely hassle-free since about 2 years", "excerpt": "Huh! I had to work with AIX and some AS400, HP-UX, SunOS/early Solaris, but mostly SINIX. Also held a Microsoft MCSE for WinNT 4 and IIS once. I abandoned Windows for personal use by about 1994, gotten fed-up/snapped because of the unreliability of finding network peers during private LAN-parties. While that instantly worked with some Linux booted from ONE 1.44MB floppy disk! OFC no gaming possible with that. But tha", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetBSD and my life (2005)"}, {"id": 790070932, "item_id": 49379433, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49379433", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am currently running Fedora 43/KDE Plasma", "excerpt": "That's a new take: Project with new release 1 day ago declared deprecated! I've been using Linux for around 2 decades. I am currently running Fedora 43/KDE Plasma ... and wait for it ... Xorg. Why? Because it works. It works well! Why don't I use Wayland? Because it breaks everything. - Screensharing is just wonky and inconsistent across applications. It has gotten better in the last 2 years, but it's still quite won", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xorg-Server 26.0.99.901"}, {"id": 790031698, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 790016512, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 789897329, "item_id": 49368583, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49368583", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if i launch `startplasma-wayland` pressing ANY key on my keyboard causes it to crash.", "excerpt": "My main WM is Window Maker but i use KDE Plasma for secondary accounts when i want to try stuff without 'polluting' my main user account. I can only use X11 with KDE Plasma because, for some unfathomable reason, if i launch `startplasma-wayland` pressing ANY key on my keyboard causes it to crash. Like. How.", "context": "", "use_case": "secondary accounts for trying things", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 789896032, "item_id": 49368502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49368502", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "compare", "quote": "when absolute basics of window management are somehow broken under KDE Wayland. Why that even has anything to do with Wayland I don't know. I just know that it all works perfectly when I use KDE X11.", "excerpt": "None of that matters if you don't have a HDR monitor, only have one monitor, and when absolute basics of window management are somehow broken under KDE Wayland. Why that even has anything to do with Wayland I don't know. I just know that it all works perfectly when I use KDE X11. Maybe other DEs/WMs have better Wayland implementations, I don't know.", "context": "single non-HDR monitor user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 787663184, "item_id": 49228949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49228949", "by": "spockz", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Using KDE with Wayland.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m currently on a AMD 5900X with 9070 XT. Previously a 6700XT, didn\u2019t make a difference in desktop only in games. Using KDE with Wayland. Recently I switched to the bore-lto flavour kernel as it seems to handle memory contention slightly better.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can Intel finally beat ARM on performance per Watt?"}, {"id": 786900960, "item_id": 49181310, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181310", "by": "burnoutdv", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE Plasma which is what i use in private and at the last job is soooo much more polished", "excerpt": "> Granted, Windows 11 is not a perfect OS that is the fine art of an understatment to nit pick a line in this article. I recently changed jobs and this new one got quite tight managed Win11 devices. Its a work device, if I can work with it its fine. BUT, and thats a big but, Win11 is such a clusterfuck its unbelieavable. Without access to my usual sleught of tools like classic Shell it was very hard to get this syste", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux didn't just eat 10% of Windows market share, AI bots inflate the numbers"}, {"id": 785498400, "item_id": 49093650, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49093650", "by": "nvme0n1p1", "date": "2026-07-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use KDE too btw.", "excerpt": "Here's a post from 2023 where the majority of people say it just works, except for one guy who tweaked his env and broke it. https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/18gfffw/is_zoom_still_by_default_not_working_on_plasma/ The fact you're griping about implementation details like pipewire makes me think you also tried micromanaging your env and broke something. If you use a fresh install and leave everything default, I'm", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Multiple Mouse Cursors in Wayland"}, {"id": 784790736, "item_id": 49049421, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49049421", "by": "xolve", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KWin, Dolphin, Plasma panels have unmatched ease whih grows on you.", "excerpt": "These are the small but extremely user-centric quality of life features that I like about KDE. Most applications I use aren't KDE based (Firefox, VSCode, emacs, movie) but KWin, Dolphin, Plasma panels have unmatched ease whih grows on you.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 784536432, "item_id": 49033527, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033527", "by": "frameset", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "One of my absolute favourite features on KDE Plasma with Wayland is the global setting to control what can steal focus.", "excerpt": "> I opened Slack on macOS, the icon kept bouncing in the dock for a few seconds. I got impatient, switched to Ghostty, and started typing. Just then, the Slack window appeared, stole focus from Ghostty and the git pull command was sent to the group chat. One of my absolute favourite features on KDE Plasma with Wayland is the global setting to control what can steal focus. It works wonderfully, and I always miss it wh", "context": "uses work mac or windows computers", "use_case": "focus stealing prevention", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 782562160, "item_id": 48910135, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910135", "by": "NelsonMinar", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than Windows 11", "excerpt": "One thing that's lovely about Linux is this kind of analysis is not only possible, but meaningful. These results will get reported back to the graphics software authors and the distribution packagers and the ecosystem will improve. There's no sense with Microsoft that kind of improvement is possible. I recently switched to Linux after years on Windows desktop, mostly because the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than", "context": "recently switched to Linux from Windows", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "Windows 11", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 777295360, "item_id": 48580960, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48580960", "by": "jauntywundrkind", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE 6.4.3 from 6.2.5 is a nice jump. I'm very excited to get Wayland here", "excerpt": "A very fine sense of timing to release this one year after KDE 6.4 was released! https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/ . Here in 2026, KDE 6.7 just dropped. I'm still super excited for this release. KDE 6.4.3 from 6.2.5 is a nice jump. I'm very excited to get Wayland here, which is my normal baseline. Maybe this time I'll try to get Niri running on this desktop. This is one of my daily driver systems, with a ", "context": "daily driver desktop on SteamOS", "use_case": "desktop environment on SteamOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable"}, {"id": 777225072, "item_id": 48576567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48576567", "by": "em-bee", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i switched from GNOME to KDE just a few weeks ago", "excerpt": "i switched from GNOME to KDE just a few weeks ago. the main reason was that i thought GNOME had become unstable on fedora 42 because my session started crashing rather frequently. since i was already using some KDE applications i thought i'd give it a try. the switch cost me a week of productivity until i had it configured the way i liked it. (which was mostly to make it similar to GNOME/Mac with a main bar at the to", "context": "Fedora user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 777094368, "item_id": 48568398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568398", "by": "BatteryMountain", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Its the most stable DE I've encountered for daily driving so far.", "excerpt": "I don't have historic use of kde but I switched to it about a year ago, after a big release, and its been awesome. Very stable for me, allows custom dpi's for each of my monitors, it doesn't break itself like gnome does. I haven't bothered with other DE's since I tried it, not even xfce (old favourite of mine for tablet & low spec pc), kde performs even well on low specs. And highly configurable out of the box. Its t", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 777080096, "item_id": 48567506, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567506", "by": "PapstJL4U", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am currently using Bazzite (seeing if it is actually better than other Linux OSes) with KDE and never had a problem.", "excerpt": "I used OpenSuse with KDE version just until 3 month ago and never had any wifi problems. I ued the KDE OS before and had no problem. I am currently using Bazzite (seeing if it is actually better than other Linux OSes) with KDE and never had a problem. Many problems occured, but wifi wasn't one of them.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 776884432, "item_id": 48555277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48555277", "by": "lanycrost", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use KDE only because SteamOS comes with it, worth to be tried.", "excerpt": "I use KDE only because SteamOS comes with it, worth to be tried.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment on SteamOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 776873024, "item_id": 48554564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48554564", "by": "tapoxi", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from GNOME to KDE around the time 6.0 shipped, and I've been very happy with it.", "excerpt": "I switched from GNOME to KDE around the time 6.0 shipped, and I've been very happy with it. GNOME aims to be Mac-like but in my experience makes a lot of weird decisions. I've been on GNOME since 1.4 (2001?) I had such a great time with KDE, and decided to promote it from just being on my \"Linux PC\" to all computers I own. I don't run Windows anymore, which is a nice feeling!", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.7 Released"}, {"id": 776336064, "item_id": 48521004, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48521004", "by": "ptx", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The KDE start menu has always annoyed me", "excerpt": "The KDE start menu has always annoyed me (well, since whenever they switched from the Windows 95 inspired one to the XP or Vista inspired one) for this reason. When you switch views, the view switches immediately (which is good) but the indicator animates slowly from one state to the other. The result is that the indicator is not really indicating what it's supposed to (since it's out of sync with the view): It's ind", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop start menu", "switched_from": "", "story": "Every Frame Perfect"}, {"id": 775832945, "item_id": 48489559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489559", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "when I switched to using KDE Plasma with X or Wayland, the keyboard input latency disappeared.", "excerpt": "When I switched to Linux from Windows last year I noticed I had a lot of keyboard input latency only when gaming. It was like I had ~100ms of input latency and it felt exactly the same as playing old school Quake I on a dial up connection without client side prediction turned on. It's like you're skating on ice with a delay when seeing the output vs when you performed the input. This was despite having a solid 60 FPS", "context": "switched from Windows to Linux last year", "use_case": "gaming without input latency", "switched_from": "niri", "story": "Linux latency measurements and compositor tuning"}, {"id": 773218273, "item_id": 48326142, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48326142", "by": "whimblepop", "date": "2026-05-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've missed Plasma for a long time.", "excerpt": "I was seduced by Apple Silicon after experiencing the exceptional battery life and performance. Those things are great, as are the screens and the speakers. But I'm still excited about the Framework 12 because I don't love macOS. I don't need an alternative to beat Apple on every line of the spec sheet. I just need them to align with my values, support Linux well, and cross a certain \"good enough\" threshold. The late", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12"}, {"id": 770413089, "item_id": 48150818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150818", "by": "everyday7732", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is doing a great job honestly.", "excerpt": "This was my experience with linux the first times I used it years ago when I lived in a different state, but I tried it last year and it's night and day. Kubuntu (Ubuntu with the KDE plasma desktop) is quite windows-like without the advertising and crappification. KDE is doing a great job honestly.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}, {"id": 765734288, "item_id": 47858393, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858393", "by": "rezaprima", "date": "2026-04-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "happy to know that KDE has thrived for this long. It was my first DE I used from around 1998. And any time I use linux distro, I tend to gravitate to Kubuntu, although I find Gnome based Ubuntu quite nice. My only grief for KDE Plasma (at least until 2 years ago, I only use mac at home and Windows at work) is a lot of space wasted in its widgets. I still smile every time I remember fictional interview with Konqi, and", "context": "uses Mac at home, Windows at work", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE at 30"}, {"id": 761766400, "item_id": 47610400, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47610400", "by": "conception", "date": "2026-04-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "was blown away by the polish. Switching over my workstation this month for sure. Highly recommended", "excerpt": "Just another post saying stuck kde with the new plasma on it for my kids first computer and was blown away by the polish. Switching over my workstation this month for sure. Highly recommended", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop for kids' computer", "switched_from": "", "story": "Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March"}, {"id": 760549122, "item_id": 47534320, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47534320", "by": "dvratil", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I almost always donate as well.", "excerpt": "Just yesterday I used Jellyfin2Samsung to install Moonlight on my TV. After the installation, the app shown a popup to donate to the author (\"buy me a beer\"). And I figured why not? The software turned a tedious process into a one-click solution, letting me do what I wanted to do (stream games to my TV) rather than spending an evening messing with Tizen Studio. Absolutely worth a few dollars. KDE's Plasma will popup ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice and the Art of Overreacting"}, {"id": 759398257, "item_id": 47462391, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47462391", "by": "unlog", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Last year switched to Fedora + Plasma", "excerpt": "Used Windows since forever because \"it just worked for me\". Last year switched to Fedora + Plasma, as I started to consider staying on windows was risky. The feedback/forum tool, has been a thing for years. Submited many bugs that I wanted fixed, and always been ignored. Thanks, but Im not looking back.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 759218096, "item_id": 47451131, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451131", "by": "kombine", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been running Plasma Desktop for years", "excerpt": "I've been running Plasma Desktop for years and had to put up with graphical glitches in its X11 iteration. I switched to Wayland to years ago when Plasma 6 was released and all the glitches were gone. Additionally, overall snappiness and responsiveness of the desktop and window management improved markedly, I felt like a got a new computer. Granted, I had to acquire an AMD GPU for this transition but it was well wort", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 756585520, "item_id": 47286595, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47286595", "by": "wao0uuno", "date": "2026-03-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Plasma but oh man do they need to hire a real designer.", "excerpt": "I just want less of this: https://files.catbox.moe/uvxbea.png Look at it and tell me this is normal. I love Plasma but oh man do they need to hire a real designer. Someone with balls to unfuck the interface and move all advanced settings out of GUI into a well documented config file.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Plasma Bigscreen \u2013 10-foot interface for KDE plasma"}, {"id": 745365025, "item_id": 46585314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46585314", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KDE Plasma keeps crashing and has weird issues", "excerpt": "I've been using XFCE for a long time now. I often give GNOME and KDE Plasma a try, but I have to tweak GNOME so much to make it usable, and KDE Plasma keeps crashing and has weird issues (Steam friends list being delayed for example), which just got worse when they switched to Wayland. I really do feel like XFCE on x11 is the logical choice, it \"just works\" and every app runs well (Discord has broken hotkeys on Wayla", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "XFCE Is Great"}, {"id": 743761504, "item_id": 46485094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46485094", "by": "lifetimerubyist", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Plasma will crash on me 2-3 times per day just doing regular things", "excerpt": "KDE has come a long way but I still find it just too buggy to be usable as a daily driver\u2026which is unfortunate because I don\u2019t really like Gnome either but it\u2019s the least worst of all the real options at the moment. Plasma will crash on me 2-3 times per day just doing regular things but I can\u2019t even remember the last time Gnome crashed on me. The ghost of KDE4 still haunts me.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE onboarding is good now"}, {"id": 743636176, "item_id": 46477261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46477261", "by": "hexbin010", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So I just tried KDE with Fedora 43 on a 4 year old Intel Dell laptop (I've used Linux pretty extensively for 15+ years). It's hilariously bad", "excerpt": "So I just tried KDE with Fedora 43 on a 4 year old Intel Dell laptop (I've used Linux pretty extensively for 15+ years). It's hilariously bad : - I managed to make a process crash just clicking around the Settings app - Sleep doesn't work (spins up the fans, then turns them down, then turns off off displays etc but I then the fan are spinning, so something is running). Looking at the menu, supposedly Firefox is 'bloc", "context": "Linux user for 15+ years", "use_case": "laptop desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 742685776, "item_id": 46417861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46417861", "by": "brooke2k", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love KDE but this would force me to abandon it", "excerpt": "> 11 one. 2025 is when it got real: we announced a formal end to Plasma\u2019s X11 session in early 2027. Really hoping they delay this. I love KDE but this would force me to abandon it :(", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE \u2013 Highlights from 2025"}, {"id": 737620192, "item_id": 46101262, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46101262", "by": "Ciantic", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KDE is not just better than Windows, but it is way more configurable out of the box.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working \"somewhat\" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the", "context": "developer who switched to Linux from Windows in the past month", "use_case": "desktop environment", "switched_from": "GNOME", "story": "People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows"}]}