If you’re interested in computer desktop software, or how metaphors apply in software interfaces, or in “cool” programs that wow your friends … you should check out BumpTop. The bad news is all they have is a slick little demo video, and unless someone hires them to continue working on it, there’s no guarantee this will ever be a product. The good news is that they have a mailing list you can sign up for if you’re interested in beta testing it.

Honestly, I think the icons need some work in this, they’re ridiculously generic in the version he’s showing off in the video (as in: no way to tell one PDF from another PDF), which for me would completely break the program. I would want a faster easier way to “open” the piles without waiting for the pile plugin menu to show up (and I’ve never been a big fan of fisheye menus). That said … the way the drag-select works, and animations for draggins groups of files, and the stacking and pile plugins … are very cool, and just the sort of stuff I’d like to add to the desktop.