glh's Journal: Quickie / Geek Poll

Ok, it's Friday and I haven't posted a JE in a while (or at least it seems like it). The Q4 push is on, and I'm keeping busy at work.. Anyone have exciting plans for the weekend?

So now it's time for a poll, the moment you've all been waiting for:

How many applications do you have running on your task bar? (Not the TSR programs in the 'tray', the ones you actually open up).

At work:
I tend to keep a lot open at once so I don't have to re-open programs all the time and wait. However, it makes my system run a little slower overall. Anyway, my task bar is full and I currently have 22 programs open (usually it is even more). 3 MMc's, Source Safe, Outlook, 3 Visio diagrams, 3 query analyzers, 5 windows "folders", 2 word documents, 2 dos prompts, 1 Visual Studio .NET IDE, 2 email messages, 1 internet explorer.

At home:
I usually only have a few open. A few Internet explorer windows, a word doc occasionally.. and Visual Studio .NET IDE.

Update: I know this is kind of windows-centric, but if you run Xwindows (depending on the win manager) you should have something similar. So the question would be "how many programs do you have running at once"?

Work: 4-10 Home: 3-BitTorrent

[mskfisher]

At work:
I have my email client, code editor, and CVS client open all the time. I also have a build/utility command window open all the time, so that makes 4. I'll add 3 to that when running the actual server applications themselves (they're all console apps)... and sometimes the client apps.

At home:
I don't usually have many applications running at once. Maybe Photoshop and a couple of instances of IE... though lately I typically have a bunch of BitTorrent windows going as well (until I've uploaded AT

about the same as Em

[memfree]

My current taskbar shows 17 items, but some of them are multiple windows for the same app (browser, explorer, mail, etc.), so the truth is closer to 8 (discounting serivces, the OS, and other automated stuff that doesn't display).

This is typical of my work box.

I haven't turned on the monitor for my home PC in months, but I rarely have more than 4 windows open when I do have it on.

About 20 is normal

[johndiii]

For both home and work. E-mail client, two source control clients, 3-8 IE (our system docs are in a Wiki), 1-2 VS, maybe one help window, an e-mail or two, AIM buddy list, 2-3 Windows Explorer, often a notepad or two, WinAmp, one Word doc, often a dependency walker or WinMerge or other dev tools, a SQL server query analyzer (sometimes an enterprise manager), and so on. At home, often an instance of FreeCell, because I have to wait for pages to load over my dialup connection, but no source control.

Task bar

[nob]

At work I usually have Firebird, Photoshop, a couple Putty SSH sessions, usually a few command prompts (I don't know why, but I'm always opening them instead of using the existing one,) iTunes, and about 3-10 explorer windows (not IE, just folders.)

At home I run OS X, so my dock usually has Safari, iChat, irssi, MacJournal and maybe a terminal window.

103 apparently

[SiliconJesus]

[e-mail]:~[2]$ ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep -v ps | wc -l
103

See my sig... its extra funny for this poll.

i've not been awake that long

[intermodal]

but here's what i've got right now:
gkrellm2
bbrun
bbpager
mozilla w/tabs
xchat, 2 servers
gaim
aterm
kmail
bluefish (with a C file open)

i usually have about half a dozen aterms open once i've been on a while though

Depends on the daily work % complete

[Degrees]

I start the day with three open. As I start working on things, it grows; as I finish them, it shrinks.

If I hit fourteen or more open, I start getting stressed, as that means I am on the receiving end of too many drive-by problem reports. If I am having a quiet day, the average will be five or six open programs.

When I am on-call (this week and weekend), I get an extra two programs running.

Hmmmm... I actually have two machines on my desk at work. So should I add the laptop's windows? Add another two, unles

Around a half-dozen tasks at a time

[MonTemplar]

Probably an ingrained habit from the days of Windows 3.1, but it makes sense for me today, running Windows 2000/XP - if I can no longer read the descriptions on the Taskbar, it's time to close down the unnecessary ones. Also, I tend to minimise applications that I'm not going to be using (as in interacting with) for a while.

MT.

hmmm

[daoine]

4 Eterms
5 Emacs windows
2 Mozilla windows(1 with a boatload o' tabs)
Evolution

That's pretty tame, I guess