Comment 7 for bug 153322

Agreed that viewports can be nice, not contesting that. But ( workspace != desktop || workspace switcher != Good name for application ).

Why? sometimes the "workspace" switcher switches viewports and sometimes desktops. The worst is when you switch desktops and then switch viewports in that new desktop, and then the gnome-panel doesn't follow you (different bug, already reported I think). Now you're basically stuck. You can't switch back. All you can do is kill gnome-panel or X, and wait for it too restart on your current viewport/desktop.

Or you reduce the number of desktops to one, with windows still on invisible desktops, NOW you just lose all you're previous windows. You can't get them back. Ugh.

What I'm trying to get at is it would be nice to kill off the idea of Desktops altogether (at least with compiz enabled) BUT be sure the gnome-panel follows you AND the "workspace" switcher is now a "viewport" switcher, and you can drag windows around in it, just like with desktops. And, most importantly of all, be sure that _under no circumstance_ can you paint yourself into a corner and "lose" windows, and not be able to get back to them.

I just realized expo sort of does what I want out of the workspace switcher. But it would still be nice to have the applet. Or at least not have it so broken. And, worse, moving around windows with expo seems to break Alt-Tab! (the moved window is lost from the Alt-Tab list). More ugh.

Basically I second the O.P. the workspace switcher and it's interaction with viewports and desktops leads to a lot of confusion, and the appearance of bugs, if not actual ones. Aesthically, viewports are nice, but using them often is a big headache. Keep the appearance, but make them, at the very least, as functional as the old idea of workspaces/desktops.