Purpose of the desktop?

[The Grinch]

What do you think the purpose of the desktop on your pc is for? As in desktop i mean the main screen on your pc which has all the icons and everything.

do you actually use the desktop to store files and other shortcuts on?

I actually use mine like a book cover or whatever. I don't like having any icons or anything on it, just a pretty wallpaper. However i do use a menu bar at the top, but thats it.

I know alot of people save their files to the desktop for easy access, but then whats the point of having "my documents" ? I store all my files in the documents folder.

I think its different for the MAC. On ever mac computer i've seen the user has used the desktop to store all their files on such as mp3's, and other things, it's weird.

There isn't much room on the desktop either way. i don't know.

What do you use yours for?
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[Rashy]

Shortcut icons, mounted drives, and temporary storage of downloaded files. Of course, being pretty is mandatory for my desktop. I also have the top and bottom taskbars that are default in Ubuntu (except styled to fit my wallpaper), but I dpn't think you are talking about that.

I have some friends that absolutely refuse to put anything on their desktop, files, shortcuts, just nothing. And I have other friends who just throw everything on there from music to documents. That drives me nuts. I can't have more than 4 or so items on my desktop.
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[ClickFanatic]

Shortcuts to all kinds of programs, games and locations on my computer. There is also a calendar on it, by the way, but that's not part of the default desktop.

The desktop is very useful when I boot the computer. It is the first thing that shows up and it allows me to quickly decide what I want to do and then actually do it. It's like an overview of things you do often and therefore need easy access to.

When the screen is covered with windows, I prefer using the menu, though.
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[Jacky]

I used to use the Desktop to store all my files. As time passes by the whole Desktop is filled up with no space left.

When I did a re-format I decided to store the files in My Documents.

On my Desktop are only some files which I am going to deal with or temporary files.
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[desertray]

I don't really pay much attention to my desktop. The wallpaper is just a default and there are a few shortcuts. That's about it.

It used to be the destination of everything I download, but now I just use my Documents. I am getting interested in making wallpapers so I might scrap the default one of these days.

[krt]

I don't bother with the desktop either. Nor do I see the attraction of sidebars, widgets and so forth unless they can somehow be easily called upon to view. Simply because the majority of the time on the computer is with a window open, and it usually is the full screen size. I have found the device icons that Linux adds by default when devices are mounted are handy and a wallpaper for some eye candy but that's about it. As for launching applications, I have something that emulated Start type of Vista but the most used applications list on the K Menu is good enough and doesn't require minimising/restoring to/from desktop.

[spock]

I have to admit that sometimes I just jumpa few files on the desktop, and that basically continues until everything's cluttered.

Then I clean my desktop and place all the files in 'My Documents'
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[nepsydaz]

I use the desktop to save the files temporarily and there are a few shortcuts to the programs I use frequently on my desktop. Most of the time I like my desktop clean with only my computer, recycle bin and my documents on the desktop. Currently there are about 18 icons in my desktop. Most of them are folders that needs uploading to the web.
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[Pie32]

Any file that is important, I'll save to the desktop (or if there are several of the same kind, in a folder on the desktop). My Documents folder is more of an archive of past completed works for me.
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[trebor678]

I have few shortcuts on my desktop, although most of them are also on my taskbar as a toolbar! I like to keep the desktop a clean as possible
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[Courtney_G]

Any project I'm currently working on gets put on the desktop. If I haven't worked on it in a while, or it's done, it get deleted or shuffled off into the document folder. Just a way of reminding myself what needs to get done. Otherwise, I ignore my desktop.

[DarknessX]

Everything is on my desktop I don't use the my documents, simply because it's a folder hidden deep within windows, and I tend to format a lot, plus having 3 monitors really helps too. My left monitor is all icons, my middle screen is (usually) my applications, although if I'm working on a project or something it spans all 3 screens. The right screen is used for music/movies, etc, as it is my best monitor. Other than that, all 3 monitors are loaded with icons, and all 3 monitors are on 1280x1024 resolution, so space is seriously not an issue for me.
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[RohitMalhotra]

i guess the purpose of the desk top is to make you life a lot simpler intesd of seek and thee shal find you have what you need right infront of you .. you could always remove what you dont need .. so that you could retieve it later ..

Sometimes you wonder how much time you save by having the desktop just imagine you have to go to the start menu alwasy to find a sub sub folder or to use a windows explorer to find the crucial file without to have to use a shortcut wont that be so very tedious ??

Some may argue that the desk top is there to merely beautify the interface and they may be correct to a certain point of view and they can have it there way
I for one find it a useful tool to solve a great deal of time while at the same time to get some esthetics into the bland digital world of computers ..

Kudos to all those who got GUI to functions for us and to bring comuters to the Masses..
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[DarknessX]

Nah kudos to the Show Desktop shortcut that minimizes EVERYTHING. I love it. I can get at anything, from anywhere.
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[Myst]

I use my desktop more or less as a temporary file storage place. I have a few shortcuts on there, but I never use them, preferring to use the start menu and what-not to access my programs.

So mostly I download stuff to my desktop, or put stuff there that I know I'll use in a little while, or things that I want to remember (its showing when I start up my computer).

Of course, this often leads to a mess of lots of files and stuff on my desktop. So I usually clean it up every few months, and sort things to the appropriate places (My Documents, Music, etc).

But yeah, I hardly ever see the desktop, so there's not a heap of point in maintaining it all pretty-like.