I’ve been following with extreme interest (and caution) the discussion that has been developing about the many metamorphosis the Gnome desktop has undergone for sake of “simplicity.”

Now, I have always been outspoken about the subject of application usability.  I have had a few discussions about some of the changes done to the newer version of Galeon, where certain features were removed for the sake of “moms and dads” users…  One day you’re happily using a program that you feel confortable with and attends your every need… and then, after an “upgrade” you find out (the hard way) that some features are completely “missing” from action.  In truth they are not removed but not accessible anymore from a GUI… but what about back compatibility?  I understand the intentions are good but simplifying is not always the best solution!  If applications such as xine and xorg (during manual configuration) allows the user to choose the level of functionality they want to be exposed to, why not then use the same system?  Simplify it (or dummify it) if that’s what it takes to make it more user friendly, but at least give people the choice of selecting their level of interaction.