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"Frankly I like my DE to act like one giant application. In fact I'd like _more_ integration like if I double-click ona document a complete version of koffice or whatever should open in the next tab. "

there's a difference between acting like one program and being one program.

integration is fine, uber-applications not so much.

konqueror i like it as a file manager, but i prefer mozilla for the internet, great but that doesn't mean i can get konqueror without the web browser bits.

so lets take konqueror merge it with Koffice kterm, and kdevelop, great now everything is integrated but i have to download 300 mb just to get a word processor.

or in ion3 i can set kwrite to be my default word processor and when i double click on a file in konqueror kwrite opens in a new tab, but it's the window managers tab not the applications. you could probably trick pekwm into the same thing. and with proper drag drop and clipboard they could interact fine with out actually relying on each other.

other problems with uber-applications it's an interface limiter, i don't need the same menus/options/toolbars in kpaint as i do i a web browser. so either have a piss poor general interface or have a drastic gui change in between tabs (at which point whats the use of having them in the program). same thing happens with keyboard shortcuts, crtl+b is bold font in one app and bookmark in another.

basically apps that do different jobs have different needs and it's stupid to compromise those needs for the sake of integration (read monolithic).

i can still drag and drop play lists and mp3s from xffm (and konqueror) to bmp while inside openbox, or drag a text file to gedit, or images to gimp. but none of them requir each other or cause performance hits in each other.