Agreed. Linux is one of the few OSes that allow you to work at different
levels. You can work in a terminal and surf raw and use EMACS if that is
your thing or you can use a fully graphical desktop with all of the bells
and whistles. Different strrokes for different folks.

Anybody who wants to run lean should consider using something like Arch or
Gentoo. Ubuntu us great, but its apprach is to hit all of the right notes
with the most people. That measns that some people have more than they need
and others less. Arch gives you a bare bones setup and you build it as you
want. You could also look at Debian and its net install if you still want to
go graphical much of the way.