Hey, I'm an OS X vet, and yet I don't know the answer to this question: can icons on the desktop be hidden from view? Pretty sure Windows has a way to do this. If anyone knows, tell all. Thanks.
Finder > Preferences General Tab. Anything that is not one of those options can be moved elsewhere in the filesystem. Alternatively, you can use Backdrop
alternatively if you want to hide it from plain view - e.g. more than just hiding the icon but the file itself just use mv filename .filename though I'm not certain this is what you're looking for
you can hide Hard Drives, Servers, and Cd's DVD's iPod's etc. in the built in software through Finder>Preferences if you want to hide everything you could try a program
Just quit the Finder... (You can add a Quit Finder item to your menu using something like Tinkertool or typing "defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool yes" in Terminal.)