Simply put, they handle graphical login. Some of the more sophisticated ones, like GDM, allow for remote login, timed login, and other shiny things. A lot of shiny things you probably don't need, want, or care about. And they are things most people don't care about. They do care about a pretty login screen though, so distros use them.
<Devil's advocate> For me the question becomes, "Why not use it?". It's already there. For my use, it's functionally the same as any other login method, and offers no perceptible drawbacks[1]. Removing it would simply be more effort without real purpose, which seems it would be counter to your "simplify" mantra. Isn't the goal of simplicity to make things be less work? -QH- [1] - Sure it consumes some resources, but come on, it's not 1999. I don't care about something that is consuming some fraction of a single percent of my "mostly-idle most of the time anyway" computer's resources. Computer time is cheap, my time is not. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
