Abstract: A system and method for displaying a desktop workspace of greater effective area than that of the display screen using Non-uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) surface planes employing real-time texture mapping. A 3D Desktop GUI based on NURBS allows a user to Manage shortcut icons, files, hard disks in a three-dimensional world having a plurality of objects provides enhanced navigational capabilities. In addition, the 3D Desktop allows the user to seek to an object or location in the NURB world, navigate throughout the world using cursor inputs and select an object to follow links associated with that object. When an object is selected from the NURB surface, a 3D file cabinet is displayed showing the contents associated with the object. Selecting a document from within the 3D filing cabinet displays the document in a preview page which also enables a user to launch the native application for the document.