@ Steve > One point I didn't see in RFC's post is stability. When I used OpenBSD > back in 2010, subjectively it seemed more stable, more consistent, and > less surprising than any Linux I'd ever used (and of course than any > Windows I'd ever used). If my computer were just for web browsing, > social networking, email, and storing photos and videos, Ubuntu or Mint > would be stable enough. But the way I work, I often have over 50 > windows open. I can't afford the massive instability bestowed by "we do > it all for you" user interfaces.
This is also true. In my experience with Gnome, KDE, et. al., these fancy configuration menus and wizards generally wind up being leaky abstractions. Writing a simple format into /etc/hostname.if has in my experience had far fewer caveats than NetworkManager or nm-applet. I had mostly addressed stability in terms of UI/UX design, but in the broader software quality meaning of the word it's a good point. I would be fine with using a fancy tool to configure everything... if it worked and was consistent. So far the only such tool I've found to deliver on that (actually functioning and being consistent) is OpenBSD's /etc/.
