[huertanix]

I really want to love the MeeGo Netbook UX and ran it for a month on my Lenovo s10-3t but can't get over its filing-cabinet UI; I can't just get to an application outside of the 6 or so on the quick launch box. You have to click on a tab, then play category bingo to figure out or try to remember which category panel to expand and find it in--and only one can be expanded at a time.

Also, the glittery nonsense on the paint job is sort of horrible. I hate it on my Lenovo netbook too; This is supposed to be a Netbook, not a Twilight character.

[bergie]

I actually worked with a MeeGo netbook for some time. In reality you launch apps with Alt-F2 and first couple of chars of app name, or just use the search box. Fast and efficient.

[slowpoke]

While I really agree with you on the convenience of the run-prompt (or dmenu-style launchers, which I use on my Arch+Xmonad machine), try to tell a regular user to start a program this way. He/she will stare at you in disbelief and then go back to clicking through menus. If you want MeeGo to sell/gain market share (and I'd group MeeGo together with Ubuntu/Mint-like Linux distros, in other words, consumer/enduser-oriented), you need a consistent and simple GUI (which doesn't mean that the capabilities for advanced users have to be dumbed down, though).

[bergie]

In MeeGo netbook the search box is at least visible in the Apps tab. This makes it a bit more approachable

[huertanix]

I agree that its fast and efficient to use the search box, but its something I rarely see people doing outside circles of sysadmins and developers.

The existing UI can easily be saved by just knocking out the expandable panels completely and just putting all the apps on one panel delineated by category name.