Controversy is nothing new when it comes to systemd. Many people find this new Linux init system to be inherently flawed in most ways, yet it is still gaining traction with major distros like Arch Linux, openSUSE, Fedora, and soon both Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux. The adoption of systemd for Debian 8 "Jessie" has been particularly fraught with strife and animosity.
Some have described the systemd adoption process as having been a "coup", while others are vowing to stick with Debian 7 as long as possible before moving to another distro. Others are so upset by what they see as a complete betrayal of the Debian and open source communities that there is serious discussion about forking Debian. Regardless of one's stance toward systemd, it cannot be argued that it has become one of the most divisive and disruptive changes in the long history of the Debian project, threatening to destroy both the project and the community that has built up around it.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Sunday September 28 2014, @10:54AM
Switch to wicd instead of networkmanager. You'll be happier long-term: in addition to not having insane dependencies, it's a lot less fussy and not prone to random breakage like NM has been in the past. I found wicd to be far more reliable on my laptop, as well as just nicer to use overall.
Only (potential) negative I can think of offhand is that the GUI bits aren't as fancy as the NM ones, but that could just as easily be considered a pro instead of a con.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @11:21AM
or just use good ol' /etc/network/interfaces
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29 2014, @04:40AM
That is going to get real old real quick if you actually use your laptop as a portable system. You want to manually configure wpasupplicant for every hotspot you connect to?