>>106547002
well that's just how it feels to me, if i were forced to name any one thing.
>Why would the DE provide this component?
critically, to handle desktop icons. this and the desktop wallpaper is typically handled by the file manager running in a special desktop mode. now of course, some DE's like Gnome don't use desktop icons at all, so i want to be clear that this isn't a perfect answer.
simple fact is that i don't know what a DE is, really.