Quoting Harald Arnesen (harald@???):

> From a not quite novice:
>
> I started with Slackware in 1993, have used Linux more or less
> exclusively (for my private work) since then. In the beginning with
> FVWM2, later with IceWM, now with XFCE4, which increased productivity a
> lot for me.
>
> I will not use a desktop without what you call a Desktop Environment -
> and XFCE4 is the only one that I've tried.

So, here's a point: If you have a Linux system with Thunar (graphical
file manager) and the xfwm4 window manager, I'm betting that those _are_
99% of what you think of as 'XFCE4'.

I'm betting that you don't actually have a specific desire and need
(also) for xfdashboard, Xftasklets, Xfce4 Screenshooter, Xfce4
Dictionary, Xfburn, Ristretto, XFCE Terminal, Parole media player,
Midori Web browser, Eatmonkey download manager,
notification-daemon-xfce, the Xfce4 Volstatus system tray notification
icon, Xfce4 Power Manager, Gigolo GIO/GVfs front-end, a couple of dozen
Xfce4 panel plugins, and around a dozen Thunar plugins, You might not
even be totally in love with the Xfce4 panel, _or_ even (gasp!) prefer a
different panel not normally bundled as part of the XFCE4 metapackage.

_Or_ you might prefer, as many XFCE4 users do, the window manager named
'awesome' rather than xfwm4.

And if you started out with less than the entire marching band of those
things (which with artwork and bindings are the ensemble known as
'XFCE4') and at any point you decided you wanted any of them or all of
them, you can trivially add those with a single apt-get command.

So, why do you need to start with the whole marching band? And,
moreover, install a 'task' metapackage whose presence requires
installation, at all times, of all of the constituent packages
thereafter.

'A la carte' is not a swear word, you know. But somehow, most of an
entire generation of Linux newcomers have been conned into thinking it
is. My point is merely that I think this tunnel-vision is unfortunate.