To me, this gets down to the classic GNOME or KDE argument. The designers at GNOME work on the assumption that functionality and ease of use is key, and that too much configurability only serves to confuse the user. The KDE folks, on the other hand, believe that making their product highly configurable doesn’t distract from function or usability, but is a useful enhancement. Mainly it’s a matter of preference – do you like redskin or russet potatoes? Personally, I like being able to configure software to my liking, so I’d weigh-in with the KDE camp here, but that’s just me.