Re: [Nautilus-list] re: Desktop folder (again)

[Marten Payne <martenp optushome com au>]

> On Thu, 2002-03-28 at 23:13, Ben Ford wrote:
> > David Bordoley wrote:
> > Eh, no thanks.  That is what $HOME is for.

> Why? I mean, do you have a reason other than that you're used to
> doing it that way and you like doing it that way?

It's not a question of "used to doing it that way". The desktop is not a
"normal" folder and the secret of of its usability lies in this fact.
People use the desktop the way they do because it more closely maps to
the way their minds work. Making them "get used" to some other way is a
bad idea. Software should serve people, not the other way around. The
Desktop is a two dimensional, modeless place where people can arrange
their stuff much like they arrange piles of paper on their desk.
Implementing it as the home directory lose this because random apps (a
possibly infinite set) can tamper with the users spatial map without
permission. And as has been pointed out, the issue of apps like the Java
plugin creating files in the home directory unbidden is open ended and
cannot be solved. So please don't make it the default and if some
developers really want it, it should be a option buried deep in the
control panel.

Marten.