unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jamu Kakar <jkakar@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Jo-Erlend Schinstad
<joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Den 03. mars 2012 02:27, skrev Andrew Starr-Bochicchio:
>> Adding a startup application is not something an average user would
>> want to do. Applications that have a reason to start with the session
>> should add themselves to that list. The "average user" task is to
>> enable or disable a start up application.
>
> I completely disagree with that. For instance, you might want to have IM
> available at all times. Or your email client, or web feed reader. Yes, it
> would be better if applications added themselves, but in any case, you would
> never want to auto-start a video-file at startup. This is no doubt a bug.
> When you want to add an application, only applications should be shown, not
> the recently used media files.
>
> Setting an application to start automatically is something anyone and almost
> everyone should want to do.

Thinking about "startup applications" seems like an awkward solution
to the real issue.  What I really want is for the system to remember
the state I left it in.  For example, when I work at my desk I have a
notebook, pens, reference materials, etc. all laid out in front of me.
When I want to go to sleep at night I turn the lights off and leave my
office.  When I return, I turn the lights back on and everything is as
it was.  I don't have to think about anything except the work at hand.

I want my computer to be the same.  Right now the closest we get to
that is hibernate, but it's glitchy (on my hardware) so the experience
isn't as good as it could be.  As an aside, it would be interesting if
"shutdown" was always hibernate.  If I want to reset my session (ie,
clean my desk) I can logout and login again.

Relying on hibernate to automatically remember the state of my machine
seems much better than trying to futz with startup applications.

Thanks,
J.