Even though I work from home, I often eat at my desk; and I'd say I gobbled down breakfast, lunch and dinner at my desk many a day while working in previous jobs as an investment banker and a dotcom wonk. And while I've heard many critics of long lunches I've never, not once, heard a criticism of the keyboard-accessorized lunchtime.

Until this weekend, when the Sunday New York Times took up the subject. Stephen Viscusi (owner of a Manhattan headhunting firm) finds it not just annoying and occasionally smelly but "too familiar." Next thing you know, Stephen, your employees will be putting pictures of their spouses on their desks and talking about how cute their new babies are. Or, YIKES, seeing one another outside the workplace. I mean, really. You'd hate to have familiarity at the office!

Putting aside the germiness of the average desk, really, how does it affect a person's economic output? Assuming you're not able to bill hours for lunches and you're not chatting up clients, which is more effective: eating out or dining al desko?

If current corporate interior design trends continue, Dilbert's cubicle dwellers may soon be a vanishing species. Many companies are looking to cut their real estate costs. Smaller is cheaper, therefore better, or so the thinking goes. But there is more to office design than just costs per square foot.

Three companies are in the forefront of redesigning office space not only to reduce the amount of square footage, but also to take into account how work flow is actually accomplished. Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), and Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) are each in the process of changing from traditional offices and assigned cubicles to unassigned work spaces, conference room and lounges.

Rather than just the latest office feng-shui trend to come along, the idea of unassigned work space can lead to increases in efficiency and productivity, thus giving a competitive advantage to those companies that understand the difference between the occupancy of office space and the utilization of office space.