Question: What is the difference between using the WYSIWYG module pointing to the CKEditor library and using the dedicated CKEditor module.

We currently use the WYSIWYG module with TinyMCE.

Answer: 
The answer seems to be that with [the Wysiwyg module](http://drupal.org/project/wysiwyg), you get an interface for which buttons appear in the profiles, whereas with just [CKEditor](http://drupal.org/project/ckeditor), you don't? Or at least it's not obvious where choosing which buttons appear happens in the CKeditor module. <http://drupal.ckeditor.com/> has some documentation on the subject, which says you can change the buttons. 

<http://drupal.org/node/606404> for some background on why CKEditor and Wysiwyg are separate efforts (though you can use CKEditor just fine with Wysiwyg).

I'd be inclined to stay with Wysiwyg so that you can swap out editors (that is, the JavaScript libraries for them) without having to swap out Drupal modules.
RE: WYSIWYG module using CKEditor library vs CKEditor module

I found the former only allowed the following toolbar;

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GOrzE.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GOrzE.png)  

(source: [johnathanthwaites.info](http://johnathanthwaites.info/sites/default/files/toolbar.png)) 

Later had much more like font colour, flash embed, spell check etc.

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lABox.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lABox.png)  

(source: [johnathanthwaites.info](http://johnathanthwaites.info/sites/default/files/toolbar2.png)) 

Have done a full explanation here;

Link to [CKeditor](https://web.archive.org/web/20170509000520/http://johnathanthwaites.info:80/Ckeditor)