Is the desktop dead? That's

Is the desktop dead? That's the question asked by an interesting piece in MIT's Technology Review, which looks at the continuing effort to replace the desktop - the system of files and folders we use to navigate round our computers - with something else. As the article explains, there's doubt that there is a need to replace the 30 year-old metaphor. Not to mention the argument over what would come next. The problem is, any change to the way computers work is met with resistance - witness the reaction to the similarly candy-coloured new looks of Mac OSX or Windows XP. And let's not even talk about what would happen if they tried to make the file system "intelligent". Anyone remember Clippy?