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Ubuntu has traditionally had some default folders. Most of them (e.g. Music, Videos) were there because they were intended to house a specific type of file. Desktop, however, was there because it was special in that its contents would be shown on the user's desktop.

This doesn't seem to be the case anymore, since Unity's desktop only shows the wallpaper. How is this going to be handled? Will the desktop folder be assigned a different purpose? Will it just be removed from default installs? Will its contents still have a special place? Also, can we expect Unity's desktop to show anything else besides the wallpaper in the future?

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  • Note that people can switch between the netbook edition and the classic desktop edition when they log in, so removing that folder doesn't sound like a good idea for now... :)
    – JanC
    Oct 30, 2010 at 11:17
  • but AFAIK desktop switch would not be there by-default. Only Unity or Gnome 2.X would be installed. So no Desktop switch until the end user himself install Gnome. Oct 30, 2010 at 11:30
  • Unity needs GNOME except for the shell (gnome-panel), and it's not like that is such a huge package...
    – JanC
    Oct 30, 2010 at 11:44
  • @Gaurav Butola If your system fails to run Unity properly, the GNOME desktop will be used as a fallback.
    – htorque
    Oct 30, 2010 at 11:45
  • @htorque yep! and only one of them would be installed, NO desktop switch by-default. Oct 30, 2010 at 16:48

2 Answers 2

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Desktop unity in 11.04 (natty) will have the standard nautilus based desktop activated again, so you'll be able to put icons and launchers on the desktop for 11.04.

For 11.10 we are completely rethinking how files are managed and accessed so it is likely that this question will become moot in a years time.

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  • Hi Alex just wondering - are you a Canonical developer?
    – 8128
    Oct 31, 2010 at 19:50
  • Yes his blog is on planet.ubuntu.com ;)
    – Ingo
    Nov 1, 2010 at 8:44
  • 3
    @Ingo "Ubuntu member" and "Canonical developer" are not synonymous... but I think your conclusion is correct here.
    – 8128
    Nov 1, 2010 at 12:36
  • You are right, sorry for the misunderstanding
    – Ingo
    Nov 1, 2010 at 13:58
  • yes, i am on the dx team.
    – Alex Launi
    Mar 31, 2011 at 16:28
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The desktop folder is unused by Unity, other than acting like a normal folder. It is still used by other desktops environments such as GNOME/Ubuntu.

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  • Thanks Stevie. My question's title was clearly misguiding since that's obviously the situation NOW and I rather wanted to know about the plans for the future. I've edited the title.
    – Bou
    Oct 30, 2010 at 11:19

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