Ciao,
I discussed about this matter with cpscotti, the current maintainer of DCEW, before I went public. We both agreed with the fact that both tools can have supporters and admirers especially if we move the topic into the "elegance" vs. "versatility" vs. "simplicity" vs. "practicality" vs. "completeness" vs. "complexity" vs. "beautifulness" vs. "coolness" vs. "hackishness" debate.
Due to my personal needs, for home and for work, I dedicated two, out of the four desktops, to monitoring widgets and I rely more on a visual/chromatic experience than on a plain textual feedback.
Furthermore, on the todo list there is also an open mind in developing a graphic architecture with far more freedom for the end-users to design and plug in their favourite visual "geometry", being that basic shapes or multi-area/clickable icons with alpha channel.
Thank you for your feedback. Bye.