[logicprog]

I mean, there is GNOME, which to a certain extent is pushing the desktop metaphor forward (IMO, by removing the useless and fiddly concept of minimization in favor of just using virtual desktops, and favoring fuzzy searching to launch applications instead of panels, and finally eliminating the superfluous taskbar in favor of solely relying on expose views), especially when combined with tiling window managers, which are doing even more by themselves to advance things.

There's also PaperWM, an extension for GNOME that pretty much does what you want IIRC.