all-in-desktop

[Lennon Cook]

Benjamin Rich <benjamin.rich at gmail.com> wrote:
> -does not allow app launchers on the desktop
I have to disagree with you here. I think there should be no
distinction at all between an App Launcher and /any other file/ as far
as panels/desktops are concerned .Especially if the Desktop becomes
simply the way that filesin $HOME are presented - it should not care
any about the type of file, except when determining how to open it and
what icon to give it. What happens if the user wants to put a
particular file in their home dir? With your proposal, if it is an app
launcher it should either fail to put it there (which would be
annoying and confusing), and/or it should not be displayed along with
all the other files (which would also be annoying/confusing).
Unless you mean that installers shouldn't put things on the Desktop,
which I think is a good idea, but one that belongs somewhere with
enough scope to say 'Installers should not install files out-of-prefix
unless specifically instructed otherwise'. Essentially, this combined
with things like $XDG_CONFIG_HOME should be enough to prevent files
showing up /anywhere/ in the user's homedir unless they were put there
- which is far more useful than what a Desktop spec could achieve.
</rambling>

I do agree with the rest, though. To me, this would seem to just
clarify the existing semantics of the "home directory" in such a way
as to apply directly to a GUI environment, which is a good thing.

--
Lennon Victor Cook
"He who receives an idea from me receives without lessening, as he who
lights his candle at mine receives light without darkening" - Thomas
Jefferson