Comment 307 for bug 532633

I think the main problem with the new button order, and the reason why the close button is where it is in MS-Windows and MacOS-X, is that the close button is the most used buttons of the three window controls and it needs to be somewhere that is static and easy to get to.

Because some windows have all three window controls, some have only two (like status dialogs which cannot be maximized) and some even have only the close buttons (like a modal dialogs) - then in Lucid, sometimes the close button is the farthest left, sometimes its a bit in from the left and sometimes its the third button on the left - often with no rhyme or reason.

Someone above mentioned RSI, which is a good argument but its worse then that, Jim - its simply hard to know where to hit when you go against the grain because muscle memory and Fitt's law want to target the far corners. The user has to make the conscious effort of clicking somewhere else.

I personally don't mind if the buttons are on the left or on the right, as long as the close button is in a consistent location. I think the suggestion made by several people to have the maximize and minimize buttons on the left and the close button on the right is a good compromise.