Design/F18 Launcher Purge

Fedora includes an extremely large number of application launchers by default. This leads to a significant degredation of the user experience. The problem is compounded by the frequently confusing, unecessary and irrelevant nature of some of these launchers.

• A high number of launchers makes launching applications inefficient and difficult - it takes a long time to find the launcher you are looking for, and is an unpleasant experience.
• Creates work for users. Every time they want to launch an application, they have to process a large number of launchers, many of which are uninteresting to them.
• Prevents personalisation. Installing apps is an important way in which people can change their system to make it suit them. If installed applications are lost within a sea of preinstalled launchers, the OS will never feel like it belongs to the user.
• Makes people feel like the OS isn't designed for them. 'If it contains lots of launchers which I don't understand or don't care about, it obviously isn't for me.'

This page tracks the progress of an initiative to tackle these problems by reducing the number of application launchers included in a new Fedora install. It requires making improvements to upstream software as well as fixing distribution-specific issues.

Status

Some applications need to be removed from the default install, others just need to have their launchers hidden. There needs to be a process for each issue to identify the best course of action.

Discussions for individual launchers should take place in bug reports - not here.

Name	Command (package, if different)	Bugs	Action	Notes	Status
Archive Manager	fileroller		Hide launcher?		Incomplete
Authentication	system-config-authentication (authconfig-gtk)		Don't install		Incomplete
Document Viewer	evince		Hide launcher?		Incomplete
Firewall	system-config-firewall		Don't install?		Incomplete
IBus Hangul Preferences	ibus-setup-hangul	GNOME Bug 662489	Integrate into System Settings, then hide launcher		In progress
Input Method Selector	ibus-setup	GNOME Bug 662489	Integrate into System Settings		In progress
Network Connections	nm-connection-editor		?	GNOME Control Center currently depends on nm-connection-editor	Incomplete
Power Statistics	gnome-power-statistics (gnome-power-manager)		Don't install	Part of gnome-power-manager. Can be dropped from the desktop spin (nothing else depends on it right now).	Incomplete
Printing	system-config-printer		Don't install		Incomplete
Release Notes	A link		Move somewhere else (Firefox bookmark?)		Incomplete
Search for Files...	gnome-search-tool		Don't install	Might need some improvements to searching in Nautilus	Incomplete
SELinux Troubleshooter	sealert		Hide launcher?		Incomplete
Software Settings	gpk-prefs (gnome-packagekit)	GNOME Bug 676445	Hide launcher (can be accessed via Add/Remove Software (which needs a better name))		Incomplete
Software Updates	gpk-update-viewer (gnome-packagekit)	GNOME Bug 676445	Hide launcher (needs to be accessible via Add/Remove Software (which needs a better name))		Incomplete
System-Config-Date	system-config-date		Hide launcher in short-term, don't depend on it in the long-term.	Required by anaconda, firstboot and system-config-kickstart.	Incomplete
Users and Groups	system-config-users		Hide launcher in short-term, don't depend on it in the long-term.	Required by firstboot.	Incomplete

Additional Notes

Designs for a GNOME 'Usage' application would combine Disk Usage Analyzer, Power Statistics and System Monitor into a single launcher.