It would be really interesting to see a follow-up 17(!) years later.
'screenshot as code', I maintain my desktop configuration through saltstack: https://github.com/TTimo/linux-salted/commits/master
I used linux in 2002 and the sentiment i get is that the whole desktop environment thingy is getting all bloated and padded. heck, those kde screenshots show so much stuff on such a small screen, right?
And it was all really snappy on a p166mmx with a meager 64megs of ram.