It’s not clear what a polished phone interface looks like. For example, I could see such an interface lacking files entirely or giving priority access to communications technologies, wherein this might be wholly inappropriate for the desktop. Also the desktop has a keyboard on its side.
> I could see such an interface lacking files entirely
Now that's a great idea. If you think about it, current file systems are OLD. No transactions (I'm aware of the exceptions, but even those filesystems capable of transactions don't always expose that to the user), we rely on the file name to determine its type, no-or-severely-restricted access to metadata, possible infinite link loops.... I'm sure that the filesystems are implemented excellently, but I really hope we rethink the way we store data. I would much prefer a "flat" filesystem jailed by app and organizable by labels. Or whatever.
This is slightly hilarious because Gnome 3 (and Unity) has excellent keyboard support. You had to install a Quicksilver clone in Gnome 2 to get what Gnome 3 has baked in. And Gnome 3's keyboard search is better all around; faster, uses my whole screen, and it's simpler to switch between various types of entity that I'm searching for.
