Watching A New Hope last nite I had an epiphany for the true reason Palpatine thought the Death Star was a good idea...and it wasn't for destroying planets.

Think about this:

In today's modern working class world the goal of most every white-collar employee is to achieve the ultimate status of the corner office with the greatest view known to man. Call this the Office-Ego complex.

Having so many Moffs, Admirals, Captains, etc. under his command Palpatine was also a victim of this Office-Ego phenomenon. Where was Palpatine's main office...high up on Coruscant with a view of a large expanse of the planet, much better than any simple corner office in today's modern world.

What is the best way to ensure back-stabbing, name calling, shady deals, etc. don't go on in your building for the opportunity to move up into that coveted corner office? Simple answer, build a giant sphere that floats around in the blackness of space and fill it with your most trusted & head-strong military type.

There are no corner offices on the Death Star and I would imagine no windows either because there isn't really much to look at in space the majority of the time - other than blackness. Palpatine was a smart man for utilizing this strategy for keeping his minions at bay and not trying to overthrow him & his lofty office on Coruscant.

When the Death Star was destroyed what did Palpatine do...he ordered another to be built, obviously for the same reasons as before, but this time he put the caveat in that it was 'twice as powerful' as the first. Now of course all the military-type people will want to be on this 'all-powerful' weapon, but again they can't achieve that ultimate white-collar status of having the corner office.

(I think I've been working in corporate culture too long when thoughts like this creep in my head )