The HTC Desire had a home screen model based around a central one with the other screens to the left and to the right. Samsung decided to copy the Apple style start on the left and scroll right through screens. I prefer the former model, and there’s a relatively easy root fix for it.
[MOD][ROOT] Change default homescreen – TouchWiz 4.0 – xda-developers.
[Update: index starts from zero, so screen 4 – the middle one – is index 3]