Linux: Ubuntu – How to keep programs from launching maximized?

In Ubuntu 11.10:

Install ccsm if you don’t already have it (bizarrely, it’s not installed by default)
Run it
Go to Desktop
Click Ubuntu Unity Plugin
Go to the Experimental tab

Set the Auto-maximize value to 100% to completely disable it, or just to a higher percentage if you like the behavior but the default 75% is the wrong value for you.