Tidying the desktop 19 Jan 2007

Booting up a brand new PC is an extremely frustrating experience. As soon as the desktop appears you're confronted with loads of different shortcuts and installers offering trial versions of software that you'll never need (or want) to take up. Greetings card generator anyone? AOL dial-up?

OK, so the PC-literate among us can quickly scoop these icons up and dump 'em in the recycle bin, but for the inexperienced, this clutter can be completely overwhelming.

It's therefore good to know that change is afoot. From The Seattle Times:

"Lately, computer makers have been cutting down on the number of icons on computer desktops...even though the sacrifice could mean losing valuable revenue as the prices of machines continue to drop.

"'A clean-desk policy seems less intimidating to a novice user,' said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst with Gartner. But most PC makers still include large amounts of add-on software because those deals can mean making a profit or taking a loss on each PC sold, he said.

"The difference these days is that rather than cluttering up the desktop, Kleynhans said, computer makers are tucking those items into the start menu or hiding them behind a single installation icon.

"'This allows the PC maker to guide the user through the first steps of the out-of-box experience without simply presenting them with a sea of icons,' he said."

[via Good Experience]