If you like gnome, use gnome. If you like kde, use kde. For myself I like gnome and I use it. It has a terminal and firefox and that's all I need. I can remove all the panels except for one containing those shortcuts and maybe a clock. Bam - perfect desktop.

Perhaps I'm not enough of a power-user... In any case, there aren't enough choices for desktop managers. I admit sometimes I'm frustrated with gnome but I absolutely despise kde. Is there anything out there for me?