With regards to the file manager idea I think this would simply be genius! A start would be possibly to port across KDE's fabulous content sensitive "New device found" type window which offers such functionality. Given how good F-Spot is (and how few people realize it exists!) it would be great to offer this as a default option for photo-heavy disks. With regards to directory structures I can see your point, however above the root directory (i.e. in your home folder), the only place you can access, everything is fairly neat. (I am not saying here the *NIX directory structure is ugly - from a technical point of view its just so logical its beautiful) One of the things that most people have problems with is organizing their files. While many of us (myself included) do organize our files manually, using a clever new file manager idea (as proposed above), combined with the indexing system and a bit of clever jiggery-pokery we could almost make the file manager "organize" itself. With the new way GNOME will be handling file systems (after finally disposing of the dreadful way it handles it at the moment) it would be possible to have a virtual file system where all your files (from all sorts of places) are organized and usable from any application. Imagine plugging in a MP3 player and having the music on it seamlessly integrate into your play list, and then disappear when its disconnected. Some fairly fascinating and exciting things could be done! Of course the problem with ditching the standard file system browsing method (for "normal" use) is that it would potentially make it more complicated to manually do things, or possibly mean people would get confused about moving stuff onto their memory sticks or what not. <div>On 09/02/2008, Sumit Chandra Agarwal <<a href="mailto:sumit.chandra.agarwal@gmail.com">sumit.chandra.agarwal@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> I do like this idea very much, but I think there would be a lot of resistance to it as I think people like having their desktop as a junk store. Or maybe they're just too used to the idea. But it gets a thumbs-up from me! Its mildly annoying to me that Firefox/etc don't use the home folder or home/downloads as the default save to. -Sumit Andrew Laignel wrote: <blockquote type="cite"><div>Here's an idea, and something I have been wanting for a long time... Get rid of the 'Desktop' as a file store - remove it from the directory hierarchy! The only reason to store something on the desktop is if you can't be bothered to put it where it's meant to go.  Ideally everything should be in the home folder, rather than split across a locations.  Everything else - shortcuts, pseudo-icons could remain but only if handled by the system in an organised fashion ala Mac OS (drives and folders down RHS). The mixing of shortcuts, files, and system icons is generally a bad idea as you don't know whats what largely.  Generally most desktops are just an ugly mess. If you remove the desktop-as-a-junkstore paradigm that everyone always does because everyone's always done it it opens up many new opportunities for using the desktop as an actual interface rather than the reliance on toolbars.  It would also make a more intuitive system as you have more space to work with (as it will hide behind windows) so you are not constrained to 32px height restrictions. You could have multiple icons for various things that would expand out when hovered or clicked such as home folder, drives, places, software etc.  You could shade all the controls or slide them out of the way when the desktop has no focus to prevent accidental clicks, and maybe slide the home folder out if someone does try to drag something to the desktop to make it obvious that's not where it goes. I've done a quick mockup of what I think would improve on the GUI.  Obviously it's not perfect but there may be some good ideas there.  With all the effort being spent on all the other areas of Ubuntu, more should be spent on the interface. </div> <hr size="4" width="90%"> <center> </center> </blockquote> </div> -- ubuntu-art mailing list <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:ubuntu-art@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-art@lists.ubuntu.com</a> <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art</a> </blockquote></div>