Software that gets in the way

Sam Varghese
Monday, 07 January 2008 20:44

Opinion and Analysis

I initially tried to set up an Ubuntu box as the server for my installation - and then after NetworkManager started getting in the way, I thought I would wipe Ubuntu and install Debian instead.

Alas, the same application continued to haunt me it gets installed along with the GNOME desktop which is the default desktop environment on Debian. For the life of me, I can't understand why.

For one, the dependency list for GNOME is massive - if you want one application, you have to install practically every GNOME application. The second thing is stuff like NetworkManager which doesn't allow one to do things from the command line.

But then I must take a share of the blame - I could well have done everything without a graphic user interface as all I needed was three or four virtual terminals. But I was lazy and figured that it was easier to follow what was happening in four terminals sitting on a deskop rather than continuously having to hit the alt key and F keys to switch between virtual terminals.

It took me a long time to finish what I had thought would be a breeze. It looks like every new version of GNOME bring along in its wake some intrusive and unnecessary applications. I'm waiting for the day when KDE becomes the default desktop suite in Debian.