Multiple Desktops - not as expected, do I not understand purpose?

dianedebuda said:

To me, the desktop is the area of the screen above the taskbar. So when I saw "multiple desktops", I envisioned screens with alternate layouts of icons - like one used if I was working with icons for financial progs and another with icons for video progs. Alas, this does not seem to be what the term means. All use the same desktop icon layout, right? Correct meaning is "groupings" of running programs? Since I use Quick Launch instead of pinning to Taskbar and only have running programs on Taskbar, there's seems to be no reason for me to use multiple desktops. Am I missing something? Is there a term or programs that would office "my" vision of "multiple desktops"? I am not wanting to create User Accounts to accomplish this - it's not that big of a deal - just curious.

Yes, your understanding is correct. It just lets you group open windows into seperate spaces.

Icons on the desktop are just what you have in your desktop folder which is a consistent thing whichever 'Virtual Desktop' you are on.

It's not called "Multiple Desktops". It's called "Task View". In other words, it's a view of a task.... which is a grouping of applications for a specific task.

It may, one day, be enhanced to provide more features, such as unique wallpapers per view, or icon layouts per view.. but as of today, this is not the case.

Essentially, what this does is isolate a set of applications so you are not distracted by other windows. It allows you to create your application layout as you want and switch between views so that the layout does not change. So you don't have to manually minimize some windows, and restore others. This is really only useful for people that run multiple sets of applications at one time, and like to switch between them.

Optionally, you can choose whether or not the icons for applications on other views appear on all views or only the current view, which can help to isolate things more.

Mystere said:

It's not called "Multiple Desktops". It's called "Task View".

Microsoft have been calling them Virtual Desktops, which does lend itself to the notion of having different desktop icons, wallpaper, etc.

True, but the name of the feature itself is "TaskView" and that's what the icon on the taskbar says.

It is virtual desktops in the sense of the Linux terminology, which is typically only about window management. Some environments may also manage icons on the desktop, but most Linux environments don't even allow icons on the desktop, only KDE/Gnome and a few others. I believe XFCE uses Rox to get icons on the desktop, but i'm not sure if it manages them under virtual desktops or not.

Regardless, it would be nice if they added that functionality in a future version.

Meant "Virtual Desktops", not "Multiple Desktops" as you are guessed. Thanks for clarification. Knew about TaskView from "old" days, but the "Desktop" term threw me.

So you don't have to manually minimize some windows, and restore others. This is really only useful for people that run multiple sets of applications at one time, and like to switch between them.

Maybe that's why I usually have at least 6 boxes running at a time & switch monitors?

I have not ever tried to do this.

I thought the whole idea was about having different icon and running app layouts.

This greatly disappoints me because my desktop is typically covered with icons for all sorts of things like audio files I'm working on, dozens of text documents I'm working on, some games... And it's pretty stressful to constantly have all that clutter in sight. I thought virtual desktops would enable me tidy, sorted desktop environments for my different type of tasks.

I hardly see the point of different environments for open apps, as I also usually have 3 - 15+ windows open, and it is by far the desktop clutter that is the more troublesome issue.

It sounds like Microsoft have made a half-effort, without much mind given to what the complete purpose of multiple desktops environments is.

The feature should then be branded virtual window environments, not virtual desktops.

Why not put your files in a folder on your desktop, then open that folder when you want to work on those tasks?

Another option is Stardock Fences, which allows you to create "fences" around your icons. You can put those icons in a folder somewhere and then "view" them directly on your desktop when you want to. There is a feature called "desktop pages" which allow you to page through different layouts.

The fact is, TaskView is very simple in the first version. You can be as disappointed as you want, but the fact is, it does window management better than any third party virtual desktop tool out there. It will get better. It is what it is, and there is no changing it before RTM no matter how disappointed you might be.

dianedebuda said:

To me, the desktop is the area of the screen above the taskbar. So when I saw "multiple virtual desktops", I envisioned screens with alternate layouts of icons - like one used if I was working with icons for financial progs and another with icons for video progs.

This is a very good idea, please send a feedback to MS suggesting this; I'll "me too" it! I suspect that if it were this way, many more would likely use the feature.