is Xfce getting too bloated ?

[purslow at sympatico.ca]

i just ran a test of Xfce 4.1.90 against KDE 3.3.0
on my Gentoo system with an  AMD XP 2500+  &  512 MB  memory:
both are set up with  10  desktops (workspaces) & should auto-start
 2  Konsoles, Mutt, Lynx, Konqueror, Gvim, Gqview, Gkrellm, Kmahjongg ;
Xfce is also set to launch KDE services (as defined in the settings window),
which are started automatically by KDE itself.

after a reboot in each case & timed from entering the start command
to appearance of a desktop (tested by clicking a workspace switcher button),
KDE took  30 seconds  to start, while Xfce took  32 seconds .

it may be of interest that KDE takes longer to close down
--  12 seconds  against  4 seconds  -- , which suggests
that KDE may be more careful about storing session-management information.

also, the Xfce session-manager is unpredictable about what it starts:
sometimes it doesn't start Konqueror, sometimes not Mutt (only a 3rd Konsole).
i don't know whether this would also happen with KDE if i used it often.
both correctly started all applications in the test above.

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SUPPORT     ___________//___,  Philip Webb : purslow at chass.utoronto.ca
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