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So I’ve been pretty happily using Ubuntu for over a year now — currently 9.04 on my laptop and 9.10 on my desktop. I got to looking at some of the great desktop setups that you can do with the Plasma (KDE 4.0) desktop, and wondered how hard it would be to switch to using KDE on my machines. As my desktop is my test bed, I went for it on there. It turns out that it’s ridiculously easy to switch. Just enter “sudo apt-get intall kubuntu-desktop” from a console. 480MB of download later and it’s done. I just love how easy it is to do things like this with Debian/Ubuntu.

Thus far, I’m very happy with it. I like the options and such way better than the Gnome ones presented with the default Ubuntu install. Look and feel fits the way I like to work better, too. In fact, after several days of using Kubuntu on my desktop, I’ve also switched over with my laptop. This isn’t to bust on the Gnome desktop or anything. It was fine for a long time for me. After a suitable acclimation period (like, a day) though, I have KDE working in a way that really suits me.

Having to deal at home with supporting Windows XP, Windows 7 (which ain’t bad) and a Mac makes me appreciate the ease and elegance with which I can administer my two Linux computers. The Mac’s not bad, but trying to get those Windows machines to place nice is really taxing me.