You might really want to try Classic Shell/Classic Start Menu then. Its an OSS project and I use it and do the categorizing like you say and find it essential. I always have several meta-categories and then copy in shortcuts for all relevant apps under those categories, e.g.:

00 - Peripherals
                        -Webcam
                          -Printer
01 - Graphics
02 - Audio
03 - Office
04 - Viewers
05 - Net
06 - Utilities
07 - System & Security

I especially like having the Peripherals submenu since otherwise it beccomes difficult to track all the various apps and utilities which come with different devices.

An idea, proposition, or an opinion is what it is, regardless of *anything* else. An argument about something is what it is, and the merits or lack thereof do not change because of other factors such as personal feelings, corporate agendas, etc.
It is therefore in the best interest of truth to simply address all arguments on their merits. Dedication to truth or pursuit of knowledge should be a higher calling and anyone committed to it enacts it by upholding it in their own conduct.

In perspective:

Web freedom faces greatest threat ever, warns Google's Sergey Brin

A family member, friend or restaurant cook infected with an adult tapeworm can secrete tens of thousands of tapeworm eggs daily, which can be easily ingested by others.

The major don't seems to be:

Don't eat at a restaurant which has a cook who is an immigrant from one of the affected countries. Nowadays, that may be almost an impossibility.

Absolutely wrong. As a provider of a platform for information exchange and communication, Apple's products must be required, by law, to be open and free.

There is absolutely an overriding interest for the social good that a large platform provider, be it a cable company, large publishing house, or communications technology provider keep their platforms open and free.

The opposite is essentially fascism. Right now the Obama administration is trying to prevent the content providers like Xfinity from controlling all the content. Xfinity already censors things like Al Jazeera and much other content which it doesn't want to compete with its own, inferior content that it controls.

This case with Apple controlling everything is no different.

Wrong. We live in a time when companies like Apple are equivalent to feudal fiefdoms. The "freedoms" we seek are those granted or bestowed by one fiefdom or another, to which peasants can choose to be in allegiance with or not. The fiefdoms are what control the country. If you cannot see that this is the case and how the political system in America functions, you are blind.

History is replete with "successes" which were disastrous, usually accompanied with copious amounts of hubris and arrogance.

Wordperfect was already being used extensively by legal offices. It would not have been a huge jump to get legal offices to switch to Linux running Wordperfect. But after version 8 Wordperfect was not a native Linux port but this convoluted thing that ran through an emulator layer which was insane. Then, not long after it died. That was the end of the chance for Linux to make an advance to the corporate/business desktop.
I'm sure some other things didn't help as well. I still think one major issue is that package managers do not have a way to screen out crusty projects. There should be a way to ignore all software which hasn't been developed or changed in X amount of time, with X=6 months, 9, months, whatever, but some value that cuts out the immense amount of crust.
I also think Linux should have done more to entice hardware and software makers to use it. In fact, it should have done everything absolutely possible to make life easy for hardware and software makers, including more flexible licenses. I don't think people were realistic enough to realize that, without the needed support of hardware and software makers, everything else is almost a moot point.

About as slimy as you can get.

I believe that deal they cut with eBay years ago, whereby they got a huge wad of cash, was so that they would NOT EVER innovate or improve buying/selling features of their site. I believe they got paid off to keep their interface crappy.

So these extension sites come along and try to fill the gaps with the terrible interface and they get sued.

And the EFF has awarded CL in the past for their "community" contributions. What a bunch of BS! I would love to see CL lose their monopolies and see a more open playing field.

Hello no IMAP/SMTP support goodbye

How can something as basic and obvious as performing a search of local system have a patent?

I cannot be more thoroughly disgusted by Apple. Just like everything else in society, it is the people who purport to provide something who are ultimately the ones responsible for its deprivation.
It is, for example, precisely because of the "healthcare" industry that there is so much actual deprivation of healthcare in our society. The deprivation would not be possible without it.
It is precisely because we have a government obsessed with our "security" that, in actuality, we are deprived ot true security. The deprivation precisely requires it.
And it is precisely because we have a company like Apple providing personal information technology that, ultimately, is becoming responsible for the deprivation of such technology.
These patent wars are frivolous and sickening. We the actual people are just poor lowlife paeans getting thrown about as the big giants play their games. But I have to say, Apple has shown itself to be a bad player, with far more ill-will than other companies like Samsung. I have a hard time believing that most other tech companies would have initiated such frivolous and anti-innovative BS like Apple has. I'm willing to bet that most of these asian companies which, yes, often mimic successful ideas of other products, are just happy to do what they do and not fuss over BS and play pissy games like Apple. There is a long history of makers and craftsmen borrowing ideas and often improving upon them. But Apple is different. Its conduct is truly rotten and malevolent. They truly are not committed to the advancement of technology, but to sheer greed.

Samsung said in their statement: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."

Apple is like the #1 enemy in the tech industry. I remember that ad from years ago with all those drone-like people in front of the screen obeying their overlord. Well, can't people see that that's exactly what Apple and its users are like now?

LOL

It could also be some art project, like that artist who actually draws hundred dollar bills that look exactly like the real thing but end up being worth far more because of their artistic value.

Still, if it were such a project, it would be dishonest and a form of theft unless they eventually come clean and admit it and offer to compensate the store.

I think the future is a more powerful lightweight notebook with a detachable touchscreen. People are making it all look like these either/or choices but it seems like technology is clearly converging on this happening fairly soon. Already there are quad-core tablets now being released. Think about what is missing from a tablet that makes it more powerful: more storage, more RAM, slightly higher resolution screen/better graphics, and possibly more ports. All of these should be possible either with current technology or in the very near-term future with the progression of technology in areas such as flash storage and improving compact design.

Turn it the other way around and look at what makes a ultra-portable laptop a bit still a bit too much to just easily throw in a purse and take with you - battery life not that great, hard drive - even if SSD - is still too bulky - basically whole thing is still too heavy to really be ultra portable.

From either perspective there is definitely convergence occurring so considerations now about which is "best" are more matters of personal need/preference.

One of my longer-term concerns will be, whichever platform is running, that there exists graphic or other software for it. For the time being Android and iOS might be safe but when the technology allows full-blown Windows to be on devices lighter than a pound then MS might be set to make a killing.