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The system tray is useful for two reasons: firstly as a default location for not-user-spawned widgets to appear in (eg. an "updates are available" widget), and secondly as a way to get quick access to information and controls without interrupting the user's workflow (eg. change track on a music player, see and change status on an IM program). For example:



A known problem with the systray is that the more widgets it holds, the less useful it becomes. Plasma allows multiple systrays with different categories, and this idea is for another way of reducing the amount of clutter in the systray (optionally).

Many applications with systray widgets also have a presence in the taskbar, but the only actions possible from here are window-related, for instance:



In these cases, the systray widget could migrate to the taskbar entry and replace the window icon, like so:



It may also be possible (through XEmbed, or use of compositing) to include the widget's menu as an entry in the taskbar element's menu, as in:



This would free up the systray from redundant icons and take those that remain out of the previous clutter. When the window associated with the taskbar entry is closed, or the desktop changes so the entry is no longer shown, then it can simply pop back into the systray.