On Fri, 2005-09-02 at 09:29 +0100, MJ Ray wrote:
<p class="controversial"> Is any virtual desktop system half-decent? Personally, I find that computer desktops are similar to real desktops: you have to be very careful to keep them uncluttered, else you can't find what you want when you want it.
I am not sure I agree. I really like having virtual desktops and find there absence on MS Windows annoying (yes I know there are utilities to add them to windows, but in my experience they cause instability)
In a ideal world a nice clean desk with only a few sheets of paper is great. But in the real world there is often more than one thing going on at a time and virtual desktops help me keep different tasks separated (when I am organised enough to use them properly)
Using your analogy if I could have a physical desk that could be reconfigured at the touch of a button to be an electronics bench, accountants desk, meeting table or playpen and retain the exact states of any of those tasks as I switch between them I would be over the moon....
Desktop controls with easier ways to tidy up beat virtual desktop systems every time.</p>
Why not a combination of the two ?
What other good "clean-up" controls are out there?
Exposé ? While not quite the paradigm shift in desktop computing that Apple would have you believe, Exposé actually goes a long way to solve the buried window problem...and does this on a GUI that suffers from that problem less than most.
I am surprised that that a work-alike hasn't been integrated into Gnome or KDE yet, but even without Googling I am sure something similar is being worked on.