Re: SV: [Nautilus-list] Desktop folder

[Ettore Perazzoli <ettore ximian com>]

On Wed, 2002-03-20 at 16:19, Tuomas Kuosmanen wrote:
> Yea, that is why I agree for the configurability. We probably have two
> kinds of users (beware, these are rather narrow stereotypes)
> 
>         * comes-from-windows -people. Stores stuff in D:\stuff\files\
>           and uses the windows explorer like a browser to get there.
>         * comes-from-mac -people. Is used to having folders on the
>           desktop and the files there. Would perhaps be using "open each
>           folder in its own window" if nautilus 1.4 wasnt so frigging
>           slow :-)

See, thing is: both kinds of users are happy with a setup in which the
Desktop directory is not the home directory, and is visible from other
apps by being a regular non-dotfile dir.  They don't really care where
the physical location of the desktop directory is -- as long as it's
within their reach.

On the other hand, there is a third category of users, which is the ones
that have been using for GNOME and got frustrated with the fact that (a)
the file selector totally absolutely blows and (b) the desktop directory
has an arcane dot-something filename that doesn't show up easily in 3rd
party apps.  (And I could add, (c) dnd rarely does what it should when
you drag to the desktop.)

Now, these are the users that want the homedir == desktopdir setup
because to them it's a cheap, simple way to solve their problems.  This
doesn't mean that it's a solution that works for the majority of the
users, nor that it works better than just fixing those problems in the
system (i.e. renaming the desktop directory and providing a decent file
selector that allows you to jump to the desktop easily).

Making it the default would just frustrate existing Linux users, and
really not do much to improve the usability of the desktop.

The situation is not much different from what happened in the Windows
world when Microsoft added the notion of a desktop with Windows 95.  It
didn't make sense for them to use C:\ as the desktop directory, and it
doesn't make sense for us to use ~ as the desktop directory either.

-- 
Ettore