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yeah, So i might be hanged, but i really like this app launcher/search.

The reason i currently use KDE is bcause it is the ONLY linux distro that uses a search menu like that, and i love it. However i think it could use some improvement.

I know this get's rid of the (at least the visual) idea of categories.

If people really don'y like this could they explain why?, id the current menu works okay but at least personally i miss the all programs part. perhaps we need a way to change UI elements in the start menu? sort of like the panel works with addings widgets and panels but for the start menu Obvously everyone have thier own taste in start menu.

Image of the win7 start menu.
This is the Favorites part, This list get's automatically created and updated much like lancelot is planning on doing(from what i could gather).



And this is the all Programs menu

So if I'm interpreting your request, you want a menu (or a quick button in one of the existing menus) to present a flat view of all applications?
Currently Homerun (fullscreen) has an All applications view that you can use. You can also edit the menu (right-click on menu -> edit Applications Menu) and create a new All Applications category which contains all of the applications.

Of course if there is sufficient demand, it shouldn't be too hard to add such a view to the application launchers themselves.

I have the impression you mix a few things here...

• KDE is not a linux distribution. It is a desktop environment that can be used on almost any system base.
• the menu (application launcher) you use in KDE is up to your selection, there are different ones available offering different user experience.

Leaving away the categories is a valid request, if you prefer it that way. But I dare say most users want the categories. They allow to browse tools suitable for certain tasks, thus offer you to explore the installed software in a very constructive way. Without categories you have to know exactly what software you want to use prior to looking for it. If that piece of software is not installed you either cannot perform your task or you have to try out all other installed applications which clearly is a stupid approach. In addition the sheer amount of applications installed on a typical linux system is much much higher than on other systems. What good is a category-less menu if all you get is a list of hundreds of applications with no means of any organization? Such a list would only be usable as long as it is very short.

So I'd say instead of asking to cripple an existing installation why not explore alternative launchers / menus? Go and have a look!
And if you really cannot get along with the existing solutions, then yo can still change the menus content to the way you want it to be presented by simply using the menu editor and moving all applications into a single folder you call "All programs".

what really bothers me is that ~ 20% of apps I install never show up in KDE menu for various reasons:

- maybe because their package has a menu setting for Gnome but not KDE
- the designers thought, hey folks can always use "AppFinder" , Xara , pkgBrowser, packagesearch, goto /usr/..../apps/* or whatever - That'll do !

Someone should come up with a post-install hook which puts absolutely every installed binary / script in a menu of some sort !
Alas, it won't happen.