I discovered the Common Desktop Environment about twenty years ago
when I decided to install Solaris x86 on my PC. The installer offered
two desktop environment options: The then-ageing CDE, and the Java Desktop
System which was a repackaged Gnome 2.6. Needless to say, CDE did not
impress me much, and I quickly switched to JDS. The ugly colour
palette and chiselled windows oddly reminded me of Windows 3.1.

Many years later, CDE became free software, and I decided to give it
another shot. It was fun for a few days, but I eventually went back to
XFCE.

Around two years ago, I came across a book called 'Configuring CDE:
The Common Desktop Environment'. The book takes an in-depth look at
configuring CDE and it motivated me to reinstall CDE on my FreeBSD
machine. After setting up CDE to my liking, I decided to use it as my
default desktop environment.

CDE has been my daily driver for two years now. It still looks ugly
and dated, but it does get the job done. I'm quite happy with it.

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