Not sure what "settings" have to do with this. The point being made in the post is that if trivial, "expected" features are missing, users wont even bother to look further.
Everybody has different expectations. For example, maybe you don't care about rect size but what you care about is the rect sides ratio. So obviously you want the status line to display the ratio and it isn't there.
Or maybe you care about rect's area! And the status line doesn't display area either.
You can't have all that: it won't fit and it would look like crap. So you need settings.
Or maybe you care about rect's area! And the status line doesn't display area either. You can't have all that: it won't fit and it would look like crap. So you need settings.