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I recently had occasion to review a personal classic from Coding Horror, Desktopitis. The plot is basically this. Jeff Atwood calls out some random presenter for his (very) cluttered desktop. To wit:

Here’s Atwood, excerpted:

After the presentation, I ribbed him about his desktop…He said he considers the desktop dead space if it doesn’t have something on it. I think his exact words were “make the desktop work for you”. That’s a unique perspective. It’s more of a portal philosophy. Fill the desktop to the brim with tons of stuff that’s relevant to you, so it’s always at your fingertips.

I realize there’s no right answer. Some people strive for blank, zen-like desktops, and some people fill their desktop with as many icons, gadgets, and gewgaws as they can possibly jam in there. It’s a religious debate…But I still maintain that it’s unhealthy to turn the desktop into an artificial destination. It’s like the Las Vegas strip; no matter how many zany attractions they add, eventually visitors have to come to terms with the fact that they’ve arbitrarily chosen to build those attractions in the middle of a vast, inhospitable desert.

For my money, I just can’t figure out how you’d ever find anything on such a messy desktop. When I’m browsing a directory, I can sort, search and so on. It sort of reminds me of people who just have huge stacks of books and papers on their physical-world desktop, instead of in a (physical) filing system or on shelves. It’s a lot of clutter for what I can only imagine is a marginal-at-best gain in productivity.

That said, it is interesting to consider the perspective of keeping everything I might need right at hand as I review my productivity habits for early-year revision. I don’t think I’m persuaded, but it’s nice to hear a counter-argument from a (presumably) computer-savvy advocate of a (rare) alternate view.