That can indeed be an issue. The general mindset of what you can do and how you can do it is somewhat different, especially when you start working with multiple desktops. Personally, I find the capability of having multiple desktops really makes it much easier to actually get work done on a PC. To give you an idea of how I make this work for me, here's how my week normally starts out at work.
My main work computer is a laptop that I take home with me on the weekend in case I get called to do things, so the first thing I do is boot up on the network and login. In the first desktop, I open a copy of Firefox, and fire up a few tabs that link to some administrative consoles.
In Desktop 2, I open a terminal. From there, I execute a script that fires up logins to my dev, test, and prod servers. In all it's about 40 terminals in tabs on 4 console windows, all sorted by system type and whether it is dev/test/prod.
In Desktop 3, I open my email program (at work it's Evolution), so I'll have ready access to email/calendar/and phone/addressbooks.
Desktop 4 is where I'll put Office-type applications as needed. I don't generally fire up the office apps until there is a need for them. My HTML editor (Quanta) will go here as well if I'm working on documentation.
Desktop 5 is used for a music player (XMMS) and sometimes other miscellaneous apps.
I don't normally have anything running in desktop 6 or 8 unless something comes up that I want to isolate by itself for some reason, like for instance Ethereal if I need to process packet dumps. If I need to work with graphics, the GIMP would end up here.
Desktop 7 contains a system resources monitor that shows me memory usage, ethernet activity, system temp, and similar stuff.
This has all evolved over time to suit the way I work. Even though I have essentially dozens of processes running to give me access to anything I might need, I can quickly go to exactly the application I need, because everything is organized, and logical and consistant. In those rare occasion when I have to use windows, it drives me absolutely crazy that I can't organize things nearly as easily, and that finding a given app on the taskbar if I have very much stuff open is a serious PITA. I think that is one reason why Microsoft emphasizes program load times and similar things so much, because it is hard to deal with having too much running at any given time, so people tend to use an application, then close it when they are done, then restart it later and so on.
Just thought I might give you an example of how the Linux and X-Windows environment can be made to work for you rather than the other way around. :-)
HAND!
hi, were you aware that microsoft has a vitual desktop manager?
http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/DeskmanPowertoySetup.exe
And that is the problem with Linux right there! whats up with that command prompt thing! bin/dev whatever all that stuff, its like you have to take classes just to learn how to use the OS! And trying to update linux forget it! rpms and binarys WTF! LOL why cant they just have an auto update like windows? or like an exe file that you click and it updates it for you. I don't have all the time to waste figuring all the stuff out.