Dropping GNOME out of this, as it seems quite clear they aren't
interested in co-operating at all. Which is fairly typical for them,
they're insular and only care for themselves.

In any case, we need a short term solution to this. Basically, we are
going to have to provide a different name under GNOME, because
otherwise  GNOME users will complain to distros, who will patch GNOME
to ignore System Settings (I refuse to acknowledge their app).

A long term solution, sharing settings isn't even counted, as they are
bound to screw us over yet again in some way. They are not to be
trusted.
Adding the panels apps need to them isn't exactly workable either due
to the number of applicable panels and apps.

As was proposed earlier, System Settings would call itself "System
Settings" under KDE, but would prefix "KDE" to the name under all
other environments. ie. KDE System Settings under xfce.

I have recieved objections that this collides with the "branding
policy" however. Given such an objection, what do those of you who
object propose?
A solution must be reached, otherwise it is the users of our
applications who will ultimately suffer - and we will probably get
blamed for it.

Regards,
Ben Cooksley
System Settings Maintainer