Wow. A lot to read so I'm start a new thread sort of.

Everyone makes valid points for the most part. What we need to find,
is which ones apply to us. Who are we recreating this late-great
desktop environment (DE) for? I suggest, for now, its for the loyal
kde3 users. For true and current gnu-linux users.
I am not, in any sense, discounting those who will come, but they will
come because of what we build now. So let's make it a good one (DE).
Its illogical to design something for someone isn't currently using
it. It is logical to design something for those who are. So I suggest
we focus on them.

David C. Rankin wrote "I agree with just "Documents". If you don't
know who's documents are on your box, you have more issues to worry
about :p" - Well David (if it was you who wrote this) I can see you
and I are existentialists. I can't agree more. We cannot cater to
those who cannot/will not learn or simple use their mind. Think about
it this way, can you create a DE for someone who doesn't want to use
your DE? David was also labouring to find something better than
Office, that's a hard one. Productivity, DTP, this one is going to be
a killer. However putting graphics under media, I disagree with
because, whilst they overlap to a degree, media or multimedia has
traditionally been the domain of Audio Video.

John A. Sullivan III wrote "People have businesses to run and could
care less about educating themselves (rightfully)." - I've never met a
successful business person who didn't what to know how it all works,
considering its how money is made. I have business client, all of
which have wanted to see what's under the hood. Once again, We cannot
cater to those who cannot/will not learn or simple use their mind. Its
simply impossible to crater to those who do not think. Think about it,
how can you build something for someone that doesn't care? A person
like this, is never happy.

Oliver Kullmann wrote "I think the KDE 3 -> KDE 4 disaster has much to
do with a kind of take-over by ms-centric thinking. Sure, hard to
quantify, but with KDE 3 I always had the feeling it moves in
principle into the right direction, while with KDE 4 this
basic trust is completely lost (on a daily basic --- I have to use it
under various circumstances)." - I agree. Currently kde4 seems to be
in competition with MS, who oddly enough has stolen things from kde
(check out their open/save dialog which now has a kde like side bar).
Competition is a waste of time, let's just focus on doing a good job.

John A. Sullivan III "I would like to politely disagree while
admitting that many others on the list may be better qualified than I
to address this issue.  However, my impression of why KDE4 has been
such a problem has not been the MS imitation but their prioritization
of developer interests over user interests" - Its true, they are in
compentition with MS, and its true, they are serving their interests
over those of the users. I have dealt directly with KDE4 devels over
the last year until I just couldn't anymore.

David C. Rankin - Your suggests are right on track and have given me
much to think about.

Poor, overworked Tim wrote "Well, I do want to convey to the user that
the Documents folder is unique to his or her profile, unlike the other
shortcuts which point to shared system resources that are identical
across all profiles.  Personally I
like "My Documents", but other alternatives could be "Personal
Documents", "Personal Files" or similar. - Isn't it possible to create
a script that would read the user's login name and create a direct
such as "Tim's User File" which would contain everything in its own
net subdirectories (Documents, Spreedsheets, Homework (for those still
in skool), Photos etc). My people just a directory called User-Files,
or rename it later on.

I also, whole-heartedly, agree with Lisi in that if a language is to
be used, such as English, then it should be used correctly. The same
should go for computer terms.

Felix Miata wrote "Try a librarian hat and think about cataloging,
file drawers and shelving. Does that help?" - yes it does help and its
what I've been trying to do.

I apoligize for the length of the email but I thougt it wise to start
a new one, than add to the already lengthy one.

I've always believed order comes from chaos, so I think we are making progress.

Kate