Why is xscreensaver removed in favor of gnome-screensaver

[n0dalus]

On 2/18/06, Miles Lane <miles.lane at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A quote from that page:
> ----------
> Why doesn't the screensaver preferences tool allow me to change the
> settings for the theme?
> We are trying to take a different approach. We would prefer for the
> themes to simply work. [...]
> There are a few reasons for this approach. One of them is to simplify
> the UI and make it easier for the user. Another reason is so that
> system administrators can more easily control (or lock down) the
> settings.
> ----------
>
> Personally, I think the Gnome developers' know-it-all attitude is
> stupid and offensive.  Dang it!  They take their bloody "present no
> options to the users" too far!  Idiots!
>

I'm sure these particular Gnome developers mean well, and I don't see
the point in getting angry at them.

I agree that neither of the reasons they list are very good. Having
one extra button to open a second dialogue hardly clutters the UI, and
makes it no harder for the user. To let system admins lock down
settings, they should simply provide a "Don't show or let users open
advanced controls." key. I think it's still a good concept to provide
multiple variations of some of the screensavers in the list, but
that's not mutually exclusive to allowing advanced controls.

If someone presents a well-formed and polite request for them to allow
advanced settings, I think we could get further in resolving this
issue.

n0dalus.