Am I the only one who virtually never uses windows desktop? I am either in particular app, or just click "start", type a few letters and run what I need. My desktop is just a background when nothing is running. Windows 8 new desktop might make it useful again.
I don't use a desktop on any OS for anything other than temp storage for files. I use Chrome/Geany/terminal 90% of the time and I have quick launch shortcuts for those in both Windows and Linux.
On my Android phone, however, I use the "desktop" exclusively to find what I need. Maybe transitioning desktop UI's to something similar is a great move.
Exactly. When using Windows I have Firefox set to download to the desktop, from which I file things into their target folders or the trash. Otherwise, my desktop is icon free.
My desktop is split between two monitors; the left monitor is for regular work and is usually covered up by full-screen (or close to it) applications. The right monitor is full of a cascade of windows, so each window is selectable from their bottom left corners.
Apart from that, the background is just used to show pictures. It's surprisingly awkward with multiple monitors: I had to write a program that composed the pictures I wanted to display, then set that new picture as a tiled background. If you don't do that correctly, and you have multiple monitors with different resolutions, you end up with either the same image on all monitors, or clipped / stretched / distorted versions on all but the "home" monitor (the one that owns (0,0)).
It's the best thing since sliced bread for Windows, I've been using it for a couple of years now and can't go back. Just hit alt-space, enter few letters and launch. Just like Awesomebar but for launching apps. It indexes all files if you want and it's quick as snap.