The Case for Gconf

2) The primary manipulation interface looks like the registry editor (which is BAD.

No, it doesn't. The "primary manipulation interface" is the interface of all of the programs that use it.

For example, when you run Gnumeric and open a spreadsheet, you've just used gconf. That file you just opened was just added to the gconf key /apps/gnumeric/core/file/history/files.

Unless the programs that use gconf are broken, forcing you to delete their preferences, you should never need gconf-editor. (I've been using Gnome as long as it has existed, and never needed to do this, but I'm told it does sometimes happen.) And if gconf-editor looks too much like a certain Windows program, you can always do things the hard way -- nobody's stopping you from using command-line utilities, if gconf-editor is too simple for your liking.