GUI

In the cross-platform environment of our university, at least three different OS connect to the smb shared group directories. Apparently Macs are able to save files with characters that are not allowed on other platforms and which cannot be easily deleted. Recently we had several files which ended with a '.' (dot) or a ' ' (space), and we were not able to remove them via the GUI. In Windows 7, I managed via the command line with:
delete "file." or
delete "file "

I read that Windows XP has a "new" feature that lets users hot-swap their desktops. Instead of logging out, a user can put his session into the background and another user can log in. This is of course very useful if you are downloading large files or running services and you don't want to interrupt the process. If figured out that Linux is able to do the same already for years:

The files that specify the different folders and buttons of the Gnome user interface are somehow really badly distributed all over the place. Here are just a few of the more common locations:

Icons in the panel: ~/.gnome2/panel2.d/default/launchers/
Contents of Start Here: ~/.gnome2/vfolders/start-here/
user's Home, Trash and Start Here: ~/.gnome-desktop/