Believe it or not, I don't have a favorite desktop environment or window manager. I usually use the default (if it has clickable icons on the screen) for the particular distro. If the default choice doesn't offer clickable icons on the screen, I switch to something else. When I switch from one distro to another, I prefer to stick with the default options unless I really don't like them. In Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux, I used JWM. I now use antiX Linux version M8.2. I use ICEWM for the WM (because it's the default) and Rox Pinboard for the DE (for the clickable icons). When I was using minimal Ubuntu (starting off with a command-line-only installation and gradually adding packages), I used GNOME. I just found GNOME to be easier to use than XFCE. Of course, this is no surprise given that most Ubuntu users and developers use GNOME, so of course GNOME seemed to work better. I'm sure that in distros in which KDE is the default choice, KDE works better than GNOME. I'm sure that in distros that provide XFCE is the default choice, XFCE is easiest to work with. I'm not sure why there are so many KDE vs. GNOME flame wars. I think that it's great that Linux offers so many choices, unlike Windows and OS X. I'm glad there's so much work going on with LXDE (as well as other lightweight solutions), as it provides an option for those who don't have the RAM for KDE or GNOME or those who do have the RAM but prefer extra speed. -- Jason Hsu, Linux-literate embedded engineer (952) 715-7661 embedded_engineer at jasonhsu.com