I understand you, Neil Rickert. But if user can manage with terminal, he can install OS without graphic environment. But if user installs OpenSUSE, therefore he wants more convenient ways to tune-up his system then terminal. Indeed: if we are installing yast2 (with a lot of graphics utils), why not install nm-applet? And another argument: if user don't want nm-applet and have it, he can easily uninstall it. But if he want nm-applet and haven't it, he has to learn difficult terminal interfaces before connecting to the internet. To do this, he also need to have a second computer. Note: startup file can be in various paths, for example /etc/icewm. This is stated in the icewm manual.