I tested the gnome-panel patch under intrepid (gnome-panel 1:2.22.2-0ubuntu2) and the patches fixes the problem. I was able to open 60 gnome-terminal windows with no problem. However, a side effect is that a single window takes the whole bar and it is not possible to right clic to set the bar to bottom instead of left/right without removing window list applet temporarily.
I tested the gnome-panel patch under intrepid (gnome-panel 1:2.22.2-0ubuntu2) and the patches fixes the problem. I was able to open 60 gnome-terminal windows with no problem. However, a side effect is that a single window takes the whole bar and it is not possible to right clic to set the bar to bottom instead of left/right without removing window list applet temporarily.