# Common Desktop Environment 16 Hacker News commenters recommended Common Desktop Environment and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for its classic Unix look, feel and lightweight footprint, and for being open source and maintained. Critics find the look dated and the ttdb default settings a security hole. ## Why people recommend it - Fondness for the classic Unix look (7 comments): "Something about the look and feel of that DE i always thought was cool!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48212874)) "I really liked CDE the first time I used it, about 25 years ago" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812549)) "The old Unix GUIs like CDE hold a special place in my heart." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46207822)) - Established Motif-based Unix GUI standard (2 comments): "The tools for CDE on Unices were arguably even better but CDE never really got any momentum." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48002764)) "Motif and CDE were already established as the Unix GUI API" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48526973)) ## What people warn about - Dated look and colour scheme (2 comments): "I thought CDE was shocking, I was immediately repelled by it when I started using it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49794259)) "The colour scheme, how it worked, the peformance. All horrible." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48114722)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [KDE Plasma](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kde-plasma.md): 650 recommend - [GNOME](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnome.md): 340 recommend - [Xfce](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xfce.md): 183 recommend - [COSMIC desktop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmic-desktop-environment.md): 75 recommend - [Cinnamon desktop environment](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cinnamon.md): 57 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Common Desktop Environment", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cde/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).