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Comment by tsimionescu | Hacker News Reader

Any system that is missing a task bar/dock/whatever you call it is a non-starter for serious work. That's a major regression that completely kills default Gnome, and shows just how incompetent their UX designers are. Even the Windows 8 designers knew better than that, and that's saying something.

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Why would I want a "task bar/dock/whatever you call it" taking up space on my screen when I have more interesting things to do and look at?

It is one of the "interesting things to look at" if one is switching between apps and files regularly. It's not just an app launcher with icons (though in some environments it is and that's their UX failure). It shows important variable info, like file or directory names per program, sometimes status of the action inside app (connected/disconnected or action completion percentage etc.). Clock is useful too, as are notification badges. Taskbar is for work, not just to take space.

My LxQt task bar is 20 pixels high. A typical Gnome session wastes more than that on useless padding.

I used to think task bars were pretty neat, back in the 1990s. But once I started keeping more than a dozen windows open, it became a waste of space. And now that I typically have 200+ windows open, the concept of a taskbar is ... like trying to get a fish to ride a bicycle, or like having a rock in my shoe. It gets in my way and provides no benefit to me.

But that's okay. I don't have to use one. Different people have different needs and preferences, and their choice to use a taskbar-free workflow doesn't interfere with their ability to get serious work done.

oh yeah I forgot about this but I absolutely have a grip with this.

Though I'm not 100% in line with this because in i3 I have no taskbar but it's perfect for serious work because:

1. Each app / type of app I use has its own workspace

2. The indicator of workspace only shows those which have a window on it, even if they always exist

That pretty much replicates the taskbar experience but with the added benefits that I choose exactly how I "group" those windows

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