Most popular Linux desktop?

I have been comparing Ubantu and Kubantu, both in their 6.06 forms, both in virtual machines on the Mac. I started out doing this because of what I was doing back when I was writing "Which GUI ". But the next day DesktopLinux releases the results of a survey , and guess who is there as the most popular Linux Desktop? The Gnome-interfaced Ubuntu. I'm going to have to admit that I do not really know why this is. Even *if* it is. More on that below.

I have played around with both Kubuntu and Ubuntu and whenever I do I always have this slightly frustrated feeling. I have traced this with WireShark down to being frustrated that my favorite apps from the other desktop are not available to me. This frustration is bi-directional: When on Ubuntu, I miss KDE apps, and when on Kubuntu, there are Gnome apps I miss.

Each version of Ubuntu (really, Kubuntu is Ubuntu with a different face) proves that both desktop managers are able to be fully populated with enough useful "native" applications to feel fairly complete. But this is also one of the frustrations for me, since I tend to want to use the application that I want, no matter which GUI I am under. For example, Konqueror in file manager mode, no matter if I am using KDE or Gnome for the interface manager. I could.. no.. will.. install these Distros to hard drive images and add the missing apps: Till I get them installed, each of these Distros as running from the LiveCD is fascinating as a study of KDE versus Gnome purism. Problem is that I am not a desktop purist. Not even close. I like what I like, not matter where it came from.

What I am currently doing is running the Distros from their LiveCD incarnations under Parallels. it's easy to just boot the CD image and run any LiveCD Disto like this. I also do it with Knoppix all the time. This way I only have one copy of any given Disto: the .iso image that I can burn disks from, and boot them in virtual machines and play with them. By not being installed onto the hard drive, I can't update the software. Well, I could. I could roll the LiveCD to disk and add the app and then roll it back to a Live CD. But that would take hours and gigabytes of disk space. It will be easier to install to one of my test machines to get a fuller feel for the distros.

Why I think it may not be true that Ubuntu is the most popular desktop Distro: The survey mentioned above does not pretend to be in any way scientific. It would be fair to say that it only surveyed those people that knew about, and cared about it enough, to take the survey (called a self-selecting survey population). So maybe this says that those who use Ubuntu love it more than those who use (insert any other Distro not named Ubuntu here). From what I have seen, most people I know at the office use either Fedora or OpenSUSE on their desktops. But that is another self selecting survey: A survey of the group of people I know that will talk to me about Linux. Or at least won't hide it when I walk into their office.

That will be next time then: A back to back install of Kubuntu and Ubuntu. On Compaq M300 laptops assembled out of trash machines too: might as well see how well old hardware is supported, and how well these distros work on minimal hardware.