I can confirm this bug, too. On nearly every (but not every) startup, the panel stops loading until I kill the deskbar-applet. The panel then finishes loading and I am asked if I want to restart the applet. When I confirm this, the deskbar-applet loads fine an can be used normally.
-- Deskbar applet keep gnome panel from completely loading https://launchpad.net/bugs/35348 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs