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This is why I think people loved the concept of the "desktop" in Windows. Those that filled it with icons, in their own rows, columns, grids, corners, full of g

This is why I think people loved the concept of the "desktop" in Windows. Those that filled it with icons, in their own rows, columns, grids, corners, full of games, applications, documents. To me it is one of Windows's biggest successes. And yet some dismiss it as unecessary and even remove the feature altogether. I think it should be embraced even more, make the messy desktop a first class citizen for people to organize their thoughts, with ways to interact with it without having to minimize all windows. Windows 10's menu did this in a neat-enough way with its customizable menu, what happened to that?

walteweiss 2y ago
When I moved to macOS back in 2011 (OS X back then), from Windows, I was shocked how much the OS pushes me to organise my digital world better than the mess I had in Windows. I never have piles of stuff in my digital life, it’s uncluttered now. These days I use Linux with both swaywm on a laptop with Arch do-it-yourself Linux, and mainstream Gnome on a Fedora desktop (workstation edition) with almost no fiddling. Both desktop metaphors allow me to organise my digital world very well. From that point of view the mess of icons on a Windows desktop looks horrible to me. I dread the very thought of using Windows ever again. I dread I’ll be given the locked Windows laptop and forced to use it. I know it’s not that bad. Especially, if you just need to perform some tasks in some GUI apps, especially if those are Microsoft apps anyway. Still, I have the fear. My Linux familiarity created me a very vulnerable place of comfort and possibly an illusion the things would be that way forever (for me). Which can be true, actually.
marcellus23 2y ago
I'm curious about why you're referring to the Windows desktop in particular. Don't pretty much all OSes do that?
- invisitor 2y ago
  Some desktops like GNOME remove the feature altogether.
  - greggsy 2y ago
    And I will never forgive them for it. I aggressively uninstall all traces of ubuntu-desktop after a new build, and usually regret doing so by the end of the night.

walteweiss 2y ago

When I moved to macOS back in 2011 (OS X back then), from Windows, I was shocked how much the OS pushes me to organise my digital world better than the mess I had in Windows. I never have piles of stuff in my digital life, it’s uncluttered now. These days I use Linux with both swaywm on a laptop with Arch do-it-yourself Linux, and mainstream Gnome on a Fedora desktop (workstation edition) with almost no fiddling. Both desktop metaphors allow me to organise my digital world very well. From that point of view the mess of icons on a Windows desktop looks horrible to me. I dread the very thought of using Windows ever again. I dread I’ll be given the locked Windows laptop and forced to use it. I know it’s not that bad. Especially, if you just need to perform some tasks in some GUI apps, especially if those are Microsoft apps anyway. Still, I have the fear. My Linux familiarity created me a very vulnerable place of comfort and possibly an illusion the things would be that way forever (for me). Which can be true, actually.

marcellus23 2y ago

I'm curious about why you're referring to the Windows desktop in particular. Don't pretty much all OSes do that?

invisitor 2y ago
Some desktops like GNOME remove the feature altogether.
- greggsy 2y ago
  And I will never forgive them for it. I aggressively uninstall all traces of ubuntu-desktop after a new build, and usually regret doing so by the end of the night.