gconf

The only way you can fully configure the browser is still trough running gconf-editor for some parts, and configuring Firefox and then importing settings from there.

Too much of desktop linux has strayed from his #5, and it bothers me to no end (yes this means you, hal and dbus and gconf).

And gconf libraries which ship daemon executables and also launch daemons from library.

No way to undo the suckyness except to edit some gconf registry key.

The target market for Ubuntu doesn't even want to be using gconf-edit.

But unless you deleted either ~/.config/compiz/ or ~/.gconf I don't see how that could have happened.

So, we have an old configuration system GConf, and we replaced it with our new one, GSettings, for N reasons.

But if I can't even configure proxy settings without hacky gconf editing, that tells you that you are definitely using a browser in catch-up mode.

It also includes some gconf configuration etc.

Gnome basically decided that text-basd configuration was too sane and opted for a mix of config files and the Windows Registry (gconf, dconf) which is a hilariously poor design choice.

> The target market for Ubuntu doesn't even want to be using gconf-edit.

I use fbpanel to make nm-applet work in my xmonad setup; it's very simple and config-file driven rather than hiding config in crazy XML gconf files like gnome-panel did.

Unfortunately, the learning curve was too great for most people, and users elected to put the buttons back in their rightful place with gconf-edit." Some users did.

What Ubuntu and RedHat did was copy the "it just works" experience from Apple's MacOSX, not caring about the non-grandma power users who got their arms and legs maimed in the process of fighting NetworkManager, dbus, and GConf-2.