"Name" key value in desk. entry spec collides with file names, could misguide users?

[Mike Hearn]

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:20:30 -0500, Jeffrey Vaughan wrote:
> I often use the following work pattern:
> 1) Download 15ish academic papers with file names like: popl2003acm.pdf 
> or df3324r.pdf.
> 2) For each file in my firefox download directory that looks like a pdf 
> in the gui, double click on the paper.
> 3) Rename or delete the paper as appropriate.

If you are downloading a file with a .pdf extension then it cannot be a
.desktop file. At least in GNOME if you create a .desktop file and rename
it to have anything other than a .desktop extension, you can't open it.
Only when it has the .desktop extension can it be made to appear as
something else.

So it becomes an issue if you can't see the name of whatever it is you are
downloading and only look at what it appears as on your desktop.

Possibly a better solution - which has already been proposed elsewhere -
is for file managers to place an emblem on launchers with an Exec line.
That way you can see that it will run something. 

Another possible solution is to prevent .desktop files on the desktop or
under $HOME from using icons in the mime-types category of icon themes.
That's still a backwards-incompatible change but there are far fewer (no?)
legitimate uses for it so the impact is likely to be much lower.

thanks -mike