In Gnome 2.12 the option "Open Terminal" on the "Desktop Menu" has vanished. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Right Click on an empty zone on your Gnome Desktop 2. See the popup menu 3. The "Open Terminal" menu voice (that used to be the first one) has disappeared. Actual Results: The Desktop Menu popup appears but the "Open terminal" option is missing. Expected Results: Show a menu with the "old" "Open terminal" option.
This is not a bug, but a feature that has been removed from the gnome desktop. You can install the nautilus-open-terminal package which will give you an open terminal option for every folder instead of just the desktop.