Desktop Unix Sucked ...

• No common file manager / utilities

• Desktop API non-standard / atrophied

  • eg. font location ( / rendering )
    • Ask X, hard-coded paths, a few guesses, fork 'chkfontpath'
  • eg. printing
    • Fork lpq, parse output, fork lpr etc.
  • eg. MIME associations, GUI LAF, recent-files etc.

• But far, far worse

  • Lack of coherency and integration
    • eg. setup my MIME bindings 3 times
  • Love of over-exposed complexity

• Code re-use necessitates API sharing