qptech blog

I've been into the open source software scene for several years now. The degree of documentation for open source projects ranges from almost none to very thorough. The best documented ones have well designed and helpful web pages with complete descriptions, screen shots, and clear documentation. Some have good web pages and pretty good documentation, but some features aren't covered well. Some have almost no documentation available.

I've installed, configured, and played with many open source projects. And one thing that's missing from the web pages, even of the very well documented ones, is a clear paragraph telling why I should choose their software over some other open source option. They have a paragraph describing what it is and does - if rather vaguely, but almost never do I see a comparison to a similar project. I think this could be quite helpful because there are a lot of open source projects which provide the same or similar functionality. And the only method that I've found to decide which to use is to try them all and see which one works best in my situation.

A big example is GNOME or KDE - both provide a Graphical Desktop Environment as well as common applications, but how is a newcomer to decide between them unless he tries them both.

I have found that GNOME has pretty vague documentation about the various applications that are associated with it.

I guess I like KDE a little better than GNOME, but I don't use either. I use Xfce on my desktop and fvwm-crystal on my laptop - I might switch to fvwm-crystal for the desktop too. I like it, but it's not like most Desktop Environments - it takes some getting used to. xfce is more "normal".

Ok, I've wandered a bit from the intended topic:
Open Source Developers - Tell me why I should choose your software over some other open source project with the same or similar functionality.