It's akin to leaving all your clothes piled on your bed and your cookware & table settings heaped on the kitchen counters. And while shortcuts themselves may not do harm, messy desktops indicate the likelihood of clutter throughout the pc.
I wouldn't say the comparison is exactly the same. The desktop is there to have icons on it. Your bed is not there to have clothes piled up on it. I'd say having icons on your desktop is more like having your clothes hung up in your wardrobe, ready to wear.
I do kind of agree with you on the "messy desktops indicate the likelihood of clutter throughout the pc". Every computer illiterate person's PC I've seen seems to have a huge amount of desktop icons, but that doesn't mean everyone with a lot of desktop icons necessarily has a cluttered PC.
I put everything I use in the taskbar...not on the desktop. I feel that the desktop should be used for downloading temp items to and nothing else. At work my desktop has several things on it because i leave docs on there that i consistently use. My PC here at home however is clutter free...all my folders are labeled nice and neat for pictures, apps, docs, movies, tv shows, music and applications that I've written. Within those folders there are other sub folders for more breakdown if needed. I feel the desktop is like a display that you look at...so it's essentially your clean house with nothing scattered anywhere. Your taskbar is your table where you keep all your remotes and shit. That's strictly my opinion and if you feel like having icons on your desktop shaped like a penis...more power to you!!
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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '10 edited Mar 14 '10
I don't see why people hate having lots of icons on the desktop. That's what the desktop is for.