Thread on Hacker News

Gruber linked to this discussion about him. That's irrelevant. I just wanted to grab this bit:

jacobolus:

putting an image behind the search engine homepage is a stupid gimmick which adds nothing to the value to my search results.

papachito:

Not really, in ChromeOS, the google homepage will be kind of like your desktop. So putting a picture there is like putting a picture on your desktop wallpaper.

I wouldn't say a desktop background adds anything to your files or windows. So you could say desktop backgrounds are stupid gimmicks. They're not practical, but fill a common human desire to decorate. A plain background is allowed if you find that preferable.