I think it depends on a few different factors especially the sort of person. I have been sensitive to noise and distractions my whole life, and on some days incidental noise drives me nuts and I can't concentrate at all. It's been like this in every position I've had, and I've never had an office door. I have definitely spent days at home so I could get deep into a technical problem without distractions. On the other hand, there are days when I can focus no matter what sort of noise distractions are present.

Also, someone with Asperger syndrome might be sensitive to noise.

I prefer to sit with my users. As you can imagine, this concept is met with a bit of resistance in corporate America.

I want to dwell with them and be a part of their lives. I want to hear them bitch about their apps, their customers and vendors, their bosses, and each other. I want to know what they go through all day every day.

When I sit and suffer with them, the resulting software is always better. All the meetings, prototypes, demos, specs, etc., etc., etc. have never been able to deliver the same knowledge needed to develop their apps.

OTOH, I don't want to sit with other programmers, unless we're working on the same thing at the same time. I don't care about your problems, I have my own.

Interesting point of view. I've had the... luxury... of sitting with end users and I certainly agree with your statement that it produces better software. However, I couldn't see sitting with them all day long, unless the projects themselves were fairly small. I fear that I'd never get anything done, because once the users figure out that you can magically make the software do whatever it needs to, they'll be asking for the moon. Pushing back would only get you so far, I think.

I sit in an office with a pretty fantastic programmer and I've certainly benefited from his knowledge, though I can certainly relate to "I don't care about your problems, I have my own."!

At work I sit about 10 desks away from users. But immediately next to me are programmers (both working with me and are not working with me). Most of my users talk more often and not terribly understanding of breaking a programmers "zone". So they are close enough for necessary feedback and interaction, but not too close. As a programmer, I find programmers are much more quiet and peaceful to work next to. :)

In my experience doors most help the developers with the least self control :) We're all social animals. It's easy to get sucked into a coworkers interesting anecdote.

I've given my developers private offices. Each also has a notebook and there are many comfy seating areas. Most spend part of their day working in a social environment, and part working in the peace the 4 walls affords them.

It's nice being able to have some additional control of noise levels and what you generally hear. It's also nice having a space clearly delineated as your own.

On the other hand, interruptions seem worse than they do in a shared environment.

I really miss it. I thought I got more done personally. In the 90's I worked places where most programmers had a door. In the 00's almost no one where I work has a door anymore.