The Regular Virtual Desktop Effect (was Re: The Cube Efffect)

[Brendan G]

On Jan 26, 2008 8:34 AM, Leo Mauler <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I was a bit embarrassed during one "educate the
> Windows user about Linux" situation when the guy I was
> talking to thought that the multiple virtual desktops
> were kinda cool (and this was well before Compiz), but
> he didn't really see the need for multiple virtual
> desktops in higher-end hardware.  While there's some
> organizational benefit to having more than one desktop
> on one machine, I couldn't come up with a reason why
> an average user would gain much from more than one
> desktop, let alone three or more.
>
> What are the advantages of virtual desktops, and why
> even have more than two virtual desktops?  Linux can
> do several virtual desktops, and Compiz can create a
> dodecahedron of virtual desktops, but if there's no
> benefit other than the "my computer is cooler than
> yours" ego boost, there's not much point to it.

I think 2 or 3 desktops makes sense in certain situations.  Say you're
running something that really 'wants' all the available screen space
(like Photoshop)... or, on the other side, if you have 10 instances of
BitTorrent going on, it's nice to give them their own desktop.

But generally, I don't think they really enhance productivity.  I
always disable them, personally.