[Techtalk] Window managers and desktops

[Dave North]

Carla:
> I'm hazy on the difference between a window manager and a desktop system

Me too! But I'll take a stab at it. (Is everyone calling KDE/Gnome
"desktop systems" now? That's probably better than "windowing
environment").
	The idea, if I get it right, is to add a layer between X and the
window manager to add some interoperation features, and some frills.
	In the frills category, we have the inevitable "panel" (same
launcher thang in both "systems") and a clock, plus other applets ... and
the standard menu system. They both have standard "help" systems that
developers generally ignore, but occasionally make good use of. Things
like that.
	They also add interoperability functions, most notably the ability
to "drag and drop" stuff from one app to another. The list goes on, but I
think you get the idea.
	What's even worse (or better) is many window managers handle these
things all on their own, so it's the feature set that distinguishes one
from the next to most of us, I think.
	I find it possible to slide by with just icewm, for example,
hardly noticing that I don't have Gnome or KDE running. But I keep my
laptop capable of running all three, mostly depending on mood or what task
I expect to be working on. If it's not much of anything, starting up ice
is very fast. If I'm gonna be there for a while, I'll wait through KDE
startup. Etc.
	Are there any other 'desktop systems' beyond KDE or Gnome?

Dave