The issue is with setting out the layout, you can configure the windows to be side-by-side etc.

Imagine the simple example where your development window has two windows side-by-side (for want of something else, an editor and a command-prompt to compile things in) and then the debug window has another prompt setup (or program) for uploading the code (e.g. through ftp) and a window (say a browser) for testing it.

If you use the keyboard shortcuts then you have to flip through them quite a few times to bring those two windows to the front, on linux it’s one combination to bring the required layout into view.

It makes even more sense the more windows you have in each “configuration”.

And where is advantage? How is switching from desktop to desktop is different from switching between these apps? :)

Multiply desktops may be useful if you need to fit lots of apps on single screen at the same time, but such scenario is extremely rare.

>I’m no linux fan, I was just making the comment that its a functionality Windows just doesn’t have

There is Microsoft PowerToy for this, it doesn’t come bundled with Windows but I think it pretty much counts as optional utility from developer.

>If managed right multiple desktops are far more productive, such as using keyboard shortcuts to navigate between etc

What prevents using keyboard shortcuts to navigate between apps instead and skip desktops overhead? :) Even more productive.

If managed right multiple desktops are far more productive, such as using keyboard shortcuts to navigate between etc.

The most useful advantage I found was when I was writing some embedded software under Fedora.

Desktop 1 – Coding environment & Google etc
Desktop 2 – Compiling windows (shell)
Desktop 3 – Uploading (ftp etc)
Desktop 4 – Testing (web browser, telnet etc)

I know some of this is redundant when you bring multiple monitors into consideration and programming with Visual Studio etc.

But with the system I was using the compilation happened in a batch script, the coding in a simple text editor. I.e. everything had to be done more or less manually so having the different desktops allowed me to arrange the windows and flip from one to another with ease depending on what I was doing at the time.

How is it an advantage? I never understood multiply desktops even when I was working in Unix. They only increases amount of time and clicks it takes to get from one app to another.

They may fulfill organizational role but hardly productive one.

Subject app looks like classic eye-candy – very cute and very useless. :)