Now this wouldn't be so bad except that when you drag the icon for an executable like gftp, the link is actually to a shell script wrapper, and Nautilus subsequently mishandles this when you click on it, asking if you want to view the script or run it. I am sure I don't have to tell anybody that this has just got to be fixed. I am sure that I won't be criticized for just being too picky because this really, really sucks and the people who'll trip hardest on this will be the newcomers, the very people whom Nautilus is supposed to welcome and attract. Bad bad bad. YOu are missing a grand opportunity to create a real Drag and Drop desktop, well beyond KDE2 in user friendliness.
Desktop icons ought to behave in a more active and intuitive way.
However, if you think about it, there is almost always more than one possible application for a given filetype. Sometimes you want to look at a jpeg in a viewer like gqview, but in other situations you want to edit it in gimp. DFM's active use of the desktop icon accomodates the users' need to easily and intuitively use the filemanager to feed files to the application of his choice as his need varies. Click on it, so it opens in XV, or drag it and drop it on the desktop icon for gqview. I believe they have both aped from Windows without examination.