Double clicking on an ELF binary with the execute bit set starts the application. Double clicking on a shell script with the execute bit set opens up gedit.

Now as many applications (which are provided outside of gnome) provide shell scripts for starting them up, this means that every time you need to open a shell, navigate to this directory and start it manually.

My expectation would be that, if a file has the exec bit set, Nautilus would start up that application instead of opening the file for editing, as the default action for a shell script with the execute bit set it most likely to actually run it. Nautilus could still provide an "edit" option in the context menu. And maybe also pop up some dialog saying "You are about to start this script".

This is not only related to the desktop but also to the file manager views.