On 01/04/2011 12:19 PM, Cyrille Ngassam Nkwenga wrote:
So let have a look on the "Desktop" paradigm.
;)
We used to understand the "Desktop" as the one on real life.
the metaphor has been around from the beginning on, when PCs had the size of refrigerators, and only clerks and accountants used them..
The "desktop contains our files(can contain Personal Data, Music, Pictures, Movies), this is the way we used it just now. But in this way , the Desktop means the same thing as our Home Folder.
there's a gconf key for this, it is called desktop_is_home_dir in /apps/nautilus/preferences. It has actually been around in there for a while.. try it out and report back with how you feel about it, is what i suggest! I tried it for a while, and it was rewarding at first, then it became a bit disturbing, because nautilus kept showing both folders, while they were actually the same. another thing that disturbed me was that i now had no generic place to put stuff which i didn't want to have in my face all the time..
it is a bit confusing. When we are working on Computer, we don't have any sight of the "Desktop", so for most of the time is irrelevant for us to keep on going with the "Desktop" as a Folder.
i think it is still quite useful as a drop destination for spontaneous drags, don't you agree?
Here is my Idea : Why not start thinking of the Desktop as just A Big (pin)Wall !
yeah, that came up before iirc, ..because especially our screens are also usually not integrated into the "desk", but facing us vertically. That's inappropriate for a "top" arrangement, and it is tactically useful for a "wall"-type setup.
otoh i think neither really matters that much anymore, since compositing offers us the possibility pretty depth-simulation, it will be kinda 3d quite soon, as i dare to predict. So whether we call it a wall or a desktop will not be of much difference anymore, call it "theme" if you like :D