Comment 5 for bug 13727

I could add the following :
- nm-applet knows about WPA protected wireless networks, but the gnome tool does NOT.
- gnome tool does know about profiles (which is good) but network manager does not.

The big problem here is that for mobile users there is no easy way to switch between various kinds of network profiles.
For example, I have two wired locations, one with static address A one with address B;
I have another wireless location, WPA protected, using static addreess A as above.
I have another wireless location, WPA protected where I use static address B as in the first example;
I might also have yet another location using dhcp,and so on.

I cannot use network manager & friends because it does not seem to be able to :
   - support static addresses - it always uses dhcp.
   - support profiling, that is switching static addresses and other settings on the same interface.
I cannot use the gnome tool either, because :
   - it does not correctly save prefferences, as stated by the bug reporters above (And I confirm the behaviour)
   - it is unable to set up WPA protected wireless networks.

Given these facts I would rate the bug a little higher then "medium" because a mobile user is unable to use any of the tools.
I personally use as a workaround the interface mapping scheme (man interfaces) which allows me to switch between more networking profiles. However, this method is not gui integrated, so I have to use a terminal to switch profiles. But... at least it does work.
PS : The interface mapping scheme can be further improved to automatically sense the network where you are in and chose settings automatically.