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Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops

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Underactive Moth <underactivemoth@gmail.com> wrote:
> Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> wrote:
>> invis <invis@invis.net> wrote:
>> > Except that we're not comparing apples with apples.
>> > 
>> > The Desktops util for Windows creates 3 extra desktops. They're actually
>> > completely independent - the desktop is considered a security boundary
>> > in NT.
>> 
>> So what? From the web page:
>> "Desktops reliance on Windows desktop objects means that it
>> cannot provide some of the functionality of other virtual desktop
>> utilities, however. For example, Windows doesn't provide a way to move
>> a window from one desktop object to another, and because a separate
>> Explorer process must run on each desktop to provide a taskbar and
>> start menu, most tray applications are only visible on the first
>> desktop."
>> 
>> Not being able to move windows from one desktop to another is a big
>> negative, as is the lack of tray applications on 2-4, plus the
>> limitaion of 4 desktops.
> 
> As a user of a self-made utility that uses the same mechanism
> (CreateDesktop, SwitchDesktop, etc.)...
> 
> I agree with the moving windows problem -- it does bite
> sometimes, but not as often as you might expect. This might be
> to do with how I use them; with each desktop containing the
> windows for each "task" (e.g. working on two clients' projects,
> one desktop each). Some of that might have been shaped by the
> lack of features Windows desktops provide, but this is also
> exactly how I use evilwm's desktops (which do support moving
> windows).

Similiar to my experience, I don't move windows that often, but it is
necessary occasionaly. 
I assign the first 4 desktops to fixed applications, the other 8 get
used as needed. Normally 1 application per desktop, occasionally 2.
Fluxbox is configured so that alt-tab works per desktop.

> 
> More annoying is that some applications try to be helpful by
> detecting that they are already running (web browsers, notably)
> and redirect all their windows to the first desktop they were
> run on. This pretty much leaves you with one desktop permanently
> assigned to the web. And to top that "feature", after Firefox
> updates it tends to restart itself and *always* restarts itself
> on the primary desktop ("Default"). I have found no way to
> change this behaviour.

Fluxbox constrains FF to one desktop, unfortunately it doesn't prevent
FF from grabbing focus & shifting it to itself, a behavior I find
*extremely* annoying. Typically done when it restarts & just *has* to
ask whether it should recover and what tabs to recover.

> 
> However, the lack of tray applications on other desktops is
> possibly the most compelling reason why I use them. With no tray
> applications the incessant notification bubbles (along with many
> other popups from "automatically updating" applications and the
> like) are no longer visible. Just running a desktop manager and
> always using the second desktop is, in my opinion, a vast
> improvement to the Windows user experience.

Windows solution to every problem: popup a dialog and ask a stupid
question. One of the reasons I completely gave up on Windows, and
avoid the integrated Linux desktops.
When I used Windows at work I never understood the people who had
Outhouse configured to automatically open a window whenever a new
email arrived. 

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Thread

Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-06 01:56 +0000
  Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-08-06 03:30 +0100
    Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-08-06 22:07 +0000
      Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-06 22:16 +0000
        Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2014-08-10 10:57 -0400
      Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops invis <invis@invis.net> - 2014-08-07 00:58 +0100
        Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-08-07 20:24 +0000
          Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Underactive Moth <underactivemoth@gmail.com> - 2014-08-08 08:17 +0000
            Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-08-08 20:27 +0000
    Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> - 2014-08-07 16:19 +0300
  Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Underactive Moth <underactivemoth@gmail.com> - 2014-08-06 14:53 +0000
    Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-08-06 21:34 +0100
      Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops invis <invis@invis.net> - 2014-08-07 01:06 +0100
        Re: Windows Threshold: Here come the virtual desktops RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-08-10 19:59 +0000

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