[no subject]

You could also put the "change default application" functionality in the context menu:

  http://snowedin.net/tmp/context-open-other-withchangedefault.png

The idea being that when users go looking for where they can change what shows up as the default in the menu, they'll look first in the menu itself.  I can't think of any reason why someone would think to look in the properties of a file to change which application is used to open it.

There is at least one problem with this though: it doesn't work in the "fewer than four applications" mode[1], when there is no "Open With" submenu.  But modes are bad anyway, right?  The "few applications" mode saves one mouse-click, but it introduces complexity and unpredictability, and pushes more common options in the context menu (copy, properties, etc) further away.

Erik