David Gelernter of Mirror World Technology, says Scopeware will replace the desktop metaphor for retrieving information on your desktop.

Gelernter calls Scopeware a 'narrative information system,' basically a diary metaphor where every file is store chronologically in what appears on-screen as a tiling stack of file cards. Placing the cursor over a card brings up a quick preview, double-clicking on the card brings up the entire file.

Inxight, a Xerox supported startup, is working on a desktop alternative called Star Tree. Even Microsoft is trying to replace the desktop metaphor or at least refine it into something with increased usability for large storage systems and has invested in research projects that use 3-D graphics representations of data such as Data Mountain and Task Gallery.