> I strongly oppose aginst this since I cannot find anything more
> annoying for a user like this one. It is like you have the light go
> out every two minutes in the basement. Very annoying. We should put
> all control with the user.
>
> But you are right about the problem. I suggest that instead we have it
> open by default but only display the basic presence control slot. All
> states are now remembered between launches, see other post, so this is
> possible.

I still believe it is not annoying when you implement it exactly like
I described. The key thing is that you set long enough intervals
before the menu is automatically closed, and that the counter is reset
every time the user puts the mouse above the control panel (the
counter only starts working when the mouse is not above the control
panel.

Regarding you basement example of the light go off in the basement: in
fact, in modern buildings, you very often see these days lights that
automatically go on and off. The reason for this is that it is
practically for you and that it saves energy. Examples:
* You get home at night when it is dark and when you are in front of
the door, an electronic eye detects you and switches on the light.
Thanks to this light, you can easily put your key into the key hole
(even when you drunk a bit ;-) ). You enter the house, and a few
minutes later the light automatically switches off (so you can't
forget doing that).
* You walk into the corridor and the lights automatically swicht on
thanks to an electronic eye. A few minutes after the eye does not
detect any movement, the lights are automatically switched off. The
advantage of this system is that you either don't have to have the
lights always switched on (energy savings), or that you never can
forget about switching the lights off again.
* At my university, the lights automatically switch off when there is
nobody in the room any more (or accidentally when students are too
silent and sitting still :D )

Summary:
1) Always open the control panel at Coccinella startup.
2) (new!) *Only* start the counter when logged on; *never* start the
counter when logged off.
3) When logged on and the mouse pointer is above the open control
panel, don't start the counter.
4) When logged on and the mouse pointer is moved away from an open
control panel, start the counter.
5) When logged on, the counter is counting down, and the mouse pointer
is moved above the open control panel again, reset and stop the
counter. Start the counter again when the mouse cursor is moved away
from the control panel, and so forth.
6) The counter interval is *long* enough to be not annoying (a few
minutes), but short enough to help the user (you don't want to move
backwards every 2 secs because that's the interval for the electronic
eye when you are searching for the key hole while being drunk!)
6) The user always manually can open and close the control panel. So,
the user has all control: he can close the control panel when he
likes, he can open the control panel when he prefers, and he can keep
the control panel open when he puts the mouse pointer above the
control panel!
7) There is no counter when the control panel is closed. When the user
opens the control panel again, the counter is there again and will be
activated when the mouse is not above the panel (as said before).
8) When the countdown finished, the open control panel is automatically closed
9) I would suggest a *long* inteval of at least 10 secs, but maybe
something in between that and 2 minutes will give a better experience.

Short summary: the key is to use the right interval time that does not
annoys the user and adds value for the user!