What is a DE (desktop environment)? A desktop environment is the layer that runs on top of a kernel, like the windows and taskbar in windows or MacOS. It is what allows you to “see” your operating system and carry out tasks by opening programs. They also give you keyboard and mouse functionality within your operating system. Without a desktop environment installed, you would only see a command-line interface. In this interface, you cannot open any programs, and there is nothing you can do to logout, login, etc. The only exception for this is DOS-based operating systems.

Linux was initially meant to be a command line (DOS) based operating system. In fact, at this time, most operating systems were DOS/command based. There were few exceptions to this, like IBM’s OS/2 and OS/2 Warp. This was until a desktop environment, KDE, made by Matthis Ettrich, was released in 1996. This was a spin on the well-known UNIX desktop environment, CDE. Many desktop environments of this time were so called, “Window Managers.” These are desktop environments that do not include a taskbar or anything related to navigation, and just allow you to see and open programs via keyboard or mouse shortcuts, and are still around today. 

A common window manager of this time was called “FVWM95” and for linux, “X.” Matthis Ettrich disliked the inconsistency of using window managers which were just tiled windows on top of each other., and wanted something more like the well-taken Windows 95. So, he went along with the KDE project, and finalized KDE 1.0 in July 1998. 

This was a giant step forward in the development of desktop environments for linux, setting the bar for many other desktop environments like Cinnamon, Budgie, XFCE, and many others. KDE allowed people coming from windows to try linux and enjoy a just as good, if not better experience using linux. But, despite the amazing achievements of KDE, there were definitely setbacks like using paid software, and the debate if distributions should have to use KDE or not. 

In response, in 1997, Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena started development on a new desktop environment, dubbed GNOME(guh-NOME). This desktop environment used completely free assets, using GTK (GIMP Tool Kit) as its base. GNOME, at this time, was also based on the look of Windows 95, but later switched to be a lot more like MacOS. GNOME 1.0 was released in 1999, and Linux had gained another major contribution to the development of desktop environments. 

Over time, KDE and GNOME grew up as rivals, with both releasing major updates every one or two years. By 2004, KDE was winning the race to be the most popular desktop environment, allowing a very nice, yet simple graphical interface. Today, KDE and GNOME have grown to be very different, appealing to different people, depending on the operating system you came from. Both KDE and GNOME are still actively worked on and added onto today.