BumpTop: Do we really need a 3D Windows desktop?

BumpTop is a utility that replaces the standard Windows desktop with a 3D environment that looks and behaves much more like a real world desk. Instead of organizing your data into virtual folders you can place items on your desktop and drag, drop, and flip your way through navigation. You can copy itmes to a USB flash drive by tossing them onto icons, or print items by tossing their icons on top of the printer icon. BumpTop also lets you upload photos to Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter simply by throwing them at icons for those social networking services.

It's visually appealing, and some people may find BumpTop to provide an intuitive method for storing and interacting with information. But you know what? My real world desk is a mess. I'm not going to say I don't have more icons on my Windows desktop than I really need. But at least their neatly organized and alphabetized. I'm not sure I need a 3D desktop that mirrors the disarray of the desk that my computer is sitting on.

That said, BumpTop has some nifty features. You can thorw items into a pile instead of folders, flip through items, or pin items to the wall for later reference. If you want to make some items bigger than others so they're easier to find later, you can do that.

If you do want to give BumpTop a try, it's relatively light on system resources although it'll perform best on a system with dedicated graphics and 1GB of RAM. There are Free and Pro versions available. The free version includes limited support and lacks some o the features of the Pro version which costs $29. Right now BumpTop is available for Windows only, but Mac and Linux versions are in the works.

Tags: bumptop, commercial, desktop, freeware