“Those who remember a time before Ubuntu will undoubtedly also
remember that GNOME, although probably the second most popular
desktop manager, didn’t hold too much share of the Linux desktop
market. KDE was king, and GNOME was a distant second. Then Ubuntu
appeared and not only climbed its way to the top of the
distribution game, but brought GNOME with it. Polls over the last
few years have shown its use increasing to the point that it is
oftentimes equalling or out-ranking KDE. But what will happen to
GNOME now that Ubuntu 11.04 is going to ship with Unity?”