I read the argument as "Gnome versus dwm", not as "Metacity versus dwm".
Every moment of my life that I spend editing fstab, running mount commands, or scripting my system is a moment that I could spend doing anything else. If I install Gnome, it will automount USB drives with no intervention on my part. Call this "low interface complexity." The same thing happens on OS X and Windows.
Now remember that it's not just about automounting. It's about monitor calibration, input devices, keyboard layouts, text conversion software, assistive technologies, wireless network configuration, printer configuration, etc. "Myriad" is a good word here.
If I uninstall Gnome, all of those tasks get shoved into the "unsolved" category, except for one — window management. For each task I have to find an application for it, compare different applications that solve the same task, and configure it. If it's something that has to always run in the background, like automounting, then I have to figure out a way to make it start when I log in. Call this "high interface complexity."
What I'd like to get across is this: optimizing for the number of lines of code is the wrong thing to optimize for. It's wrong (incorrect) to optimize for a large number of lines of code, and it's wrong (incorrect) to optimize for a small number of lines of code. Lines of code is a poor metric for almost everything, with the exception of bug count.
You should always be optimizing for "quality of life". If your idea of a higher quality of life is using a more minimalistic window manager, then what we have is a disagreement of a spiritual nature.
To me, Gnome sucks less than dwm by a mile.
And yes, I still know that Gnome is a desktop environment and dwm is a window manager.
I read the argument as "Gnome versus dwm", not as "Metacity versus dwm".
Every moment of my life that I spend editing fstab, running mount commands, or scripting my system is a moment that I could spend doing anything else. If I install Gnome, it will automount USB drives with no intervention on my part. Call this "low interface complexity." The same thing happens on OS X and Windows.
Now remember that it's not just about automounting. It's about monitor calibration, input devices, keyboard layouts, text conversion software, assistive technologies, wireless network configuration, printer configuration, etc. "Myriad" is a good word here.
If I uninstall Gnome, all of those tasks get shoved into the "unsolved" category, except for one — window management. For each task I have to find an application for it, compare different applications that solve the same task, and configure it. If it's something that has to always run in the background, like automounting, then I have to figure out a way to make it start when I log in. Call this "high interface complexity."
What I'd like to get across is this: optimizing for the number of lines of code is the wrong thing to optimize for. It's wrong (incorrect) to optimize for a large number of lines of code, and it's wrong (incorrect) to optimize for a small number of lines of code. Lines of code is a poor metric for almost everything, with the exception of bug count.
You should always be optimizing for "quality of life". If your idea of a higher quality of life is using a more minimalistic window manager, then what we have is a disagreement of a spiritual nature.
To me, Gnome sucks less than dwm by a mile.
And yes, I still know that Gnome is a desktop environment and dwm is a window manager.