Because of my work i must have atleast 9-10 tabs open, and 3-4 programms (flash, photoshop, illustrator, dreamv.). And whole 17 inch screen covered in icons. Its a mess.
Opening tabs make things organized but if its something like 20, I think its a bit of a problem. If 20 tabs are on the same window, it should be distributed to other windows. Regarding desktop icons, I think there should not be too many. But my desktop normally has a lot of them so I think that I am disorganized.
Do n't know how it's a problem,as far as I am concerned <40-50 tabs would be okay as it helps to you work far more efficiently than opening 5 tabs and doing the same thing..
I often have anywhere from 10 - 20 tabs open at a time, as I prefer to open a new tab than have to go backwards and forwards. I have a few icons on my desktop and since I've started working online they seem to be growing as I like easy access to them.