When a good all-around settings manager for the shell comes out (like ccsm is for compiz) this would be a good checkbox type option. Im sure some people use Docky or AWN still, so showing the Activities view by default would be annoying for them.

It seems this bug is related to bug #646148 (Add a visual hint to the activities button on first run).
For most users the best option would be to display Activities (launcher with
icons on the left and list of recently used files) when GNOME desktop starts, and then add a visual hint as to how to open Activities again when user does anything that closes the overlay.
What GNOME developers thinks about this issue?

Renaming for clarity.

While this may be convenient, there are a couple of issues that need to be considered:

 * The default way of stopping using your device on GNOME 3 is to suspend, so GNOME Shell shouldn't be stopping and starting all that much.

 * It is important to consider first run in this. How do we want to present GNOME Shell when a user first tries it? What kind of experience do we want that to be, and how do we engineer that experience so that they quickly learn how to use the UI?

  - I don't have a strong view here, but my sense is that we should lead the user into the UI (through something like what is described in bug 646148), rather than immediately present them with the overview. This, I think, would make for a nicer first run experience (there's a bit of discovery and exploration in there) and make GNOME Shell's UI easier to process and learn.

> The default way of stopping using your device on GNOME 3 is to suspend, so
GNOME Shell shouldn't be stopping and starting all that much.

Some users are not able to suspend (i.e. have no swap partition), or need to shutdown to boot another system.

I like the idea of showing the Activities overlay on the start, because the user anyway presses the "Activities" button in order to start an application. It would be even better if the "Applications" section was shown.

Starting with GNOME 3.6, this bug is even more accurate now that "Suspend..." is not the default behavior anymore.
Users now always start with an empty view by default.

I used to run Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my netbook (Dell Mini 9 aka Inspiron 910) which showed the applications list at start up and i found it very intuitive...

I definitely think that could improve usability specially for new users

I'we been thinking about this for long. I'd really like to see:
a) dont' ever show an empty desktop, it's useless, just open the shell by default
b) never show an empty window overview, it's useless, just open the apps grif by default

This design became evident when I upgraded my wifes computer to Gnome 3.6. She said she hated the looks of Gnome and I could tell that the ultimate reason was the very unwelcoming introduction: an empty desktop, forcing the user to figure out they need to click "Actions". And then again an empty overview, forcing the user to click the app grid or one of the apps. Completely unnecessary work for the user who just has opened their computer and wants to open their favorite apps fast.

There is an extension that does this
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/658/overview-on-startup/

Could be implemented by default in Gnome Shell

On first run we now show the getting started guide, so this wouldn't make sense in that scenario.

Elsewhere, I'm still not entirely sure that it's something we want. While it implies a small amount of extra work, I'd prefer to keep the regular session as "your home", and reinforce the mental model that the overview is a secondary, "other" place you go to perform specific tasks.

It's a nice idea all the same, and we'll continue to think about it. I don't think we need a bug to do that though.

(In reply to comment #8)
> Elsewhere, I'm still not entirely sure that it's something we want. While it
> implies a small amount of extra work, I'd prefer to keep the regular session as
> "your home", and reinforce the mental model that the overview is a secondary,
> "other" place you go to perform specific tasks.

Hm, that's not the mental model I've seen thrown around. I always thought the overview was meant as the "Home" a la iOS, and going to specific apps can be accessed through there.

Do agree with Jasper here. Overview at starup saves time - we have here one click less, plus the user is not "surprised" by seeing the overview. It's already there. It's something normal.

Please reopen this bugreport - for most users the best option would be to display Activities (dock with launchers on the left and list of recently used files) when GNOME desktop starts, and then add a visual hint as to how to open Activities again when user does anything that closes the overlay)
I've found, that this behavior was already suggested by one developer, see bug #588918

Denis Donici wrote on 2013-05-08:
> There is an extension that does this
> https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/658/overview-on-startup/

It would be nice to see some code at this extension home page - https://github.com/l300lvl/overview-on-startup-extension

Then it would be easier to adapt overview-on-startup shell extension for all GNOME versions.

There are lots of related bugs about default Activities mode, for example "Show application list by default in overview if there are no existing windows", "Activities defaults to Windows when no windows are open", see this bugreport and duplicates:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=642286

I also recommend re-opening this bug report. AO discoverability is now a known problem that could be solved by making it visible on login.

I've also filed a slightly more radical ticket recommending that the now-useless desktop be entirely replaced by the AO: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=786298

*** Bug 792371 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***