I'm another supporter of "keep your desktop empty," mainly because I
never see my desktop, I nearly always have at least a console, web
browser, and email client/calendar maximized. I have a ~/Downloads/
which I sort about once a week. As for application launching, I use
KRunner, but I'd recommend launchy on windows.

Also, why do so many people use the default alt+f2? imho alt+space is
much easier.