croquetproject.org · Domains

Re:What's the point? by fudoniten · 2008-09-18 09:31 · Score: 1 · on 3D Web Browser Draws Lukewarm Review

Another stab: You exist in a 3d world. Your brain is pretty good at navigating in a 3d world. And, you can display more information in 3d than you can in 2d. It gives you a whole other dimension to play with.

All the information on your computer *could* be presented in 1d. At some point, it really was. Adding the extra dimension made it a heck of a lot easier to display information, and allowed you to stuff more info onscreen at one time.

The win from 3d vs. 2d isn't as huge as the win from 2d vs. 1d...because really, you can process 3 dimensions, but in the end it ends up being 2d. Still, it's a win.

IMHO, a lot of the possible uses for 3d interfaces haven't been invented yet, and probably won't be until they exist.

I'm in love with the idea of Croquet. It seemed silly to me at first, it doesn't anymore.

SoC in need of a technological breakthrough by fmjrey · 2007-05-08 07:47 · Score: 1 · on Social Computing and Badger's Paws

It's nice to see SoC so passionately discussed and even becoming a field of study, but before SoC really can establish itself as a reality, I think we need a technological breakthrough.

Why?

Because there is a complete mismatch between present web technology and social dynamics. We're like trying to reach the moon by building a rocket with LEGO blocks. No wonder there is so much vaporware behind the concept of web 2.0.

Current web technology, in the way it works and in the way it is presented to the user, is still tied to the network topology. The user is very much aware of crossing boundaries between machines connected to the internet. However the network architecture and topology is completely out of touch with the reality of social networks and communities. The velocity at which the social network evolves (links between people, groups of people, and their resources) is an order of magnitude higher than the speed at which the computer network evolves, so it's quite limiting for the former to piggy back its evolution to the latter. When it comes to bringing people together into a common virtual space the most successful initiatives are found when the user model does not depend on the computer network topology: network games, Second Life, Skype, etc. All these provide "spaces" that, once entered, no longer rely on the network topology to provide meaning.

So in order to realize the SoC vision I believe we first need an architecture where the network topology is completely transparent, and I would even say, irrelevant. The user should no longer feel like navigating a set of interconnected machines and have to bother with stuff like server names, ports, who owns the server, etc. Instead, what the user should be aware of when navigating the social web are communities, their members, their boundaries, their resources, their connections, and so on. In other words we're talking about a whole layer on top of the internet with a distributed and common object model. What a user understands as 'community' or 'network' should have a clear representative on the net regardless of the computer resources involved. Right now the concept of community does not even have a real representation on the web. All we have are sets of users of certain web sites or web resources. But where do we capture the fact that an individual is part of multiple communities? How do we specify a community by aggregation of other communities (e.g. neighborhoods aggregate into a whole city)? How do we manage communities with "moving" boundaries, e.g. those that work or have worked at a certain company? Unless we develop a new social layer based on a common object model on top of the web, the social computing ideals will be dead in the water because there is a complete disconnection between the computer network model and the social network reality.

In order for SoC to become reality we need major building blocks such as identity (for both individuals and groups), reputation services, directories, ontologies, etc. For all this to work together I don't think it's enough to be plucking low hanging fruits by developing protocols This and That. For SoC to really exists I believe we should think in terms of a new OS for the web. I expect more to come out from croquet (http://www.croquetproject.org/) than from RDF and usual web 3.0 contenders.

Re:The Metaverse is not like the web by Anonymous Coward · 2006-10-24 05:16 · Score: 0 · on Metaverse the Next Big Thing?

"... if anyone manages to create one that is truly decentralised..."

It's here: http://croquetproject.org/ it just needs some polish. Why not help out?

Re:right! Forget the metaverse... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-10-24 01:05 · Score: 1, Interesting · on Metaverse the Next Big Thing?

It's dead.
Here are a couple that's not

http://interreality.org/
http://croquetproject.org/
http://metaverse.sourceforge.net/

Re:Not only did I RTFA I even DTFD by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 02:43 · Score: 0 · on Croquet SDK 1.0 Beta Released

There does seem to be a tutorial of sorts for how to navigate and use the system in a couple of videos toward the bottom of this page: http://croquetproject.org/links.html

We Still Aren't Trusted to Collaborate. by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-12 04:03 · Score: 0 · on Software Engineers Ranked Best Job in America

"I think it depends. When I worked for a major financial firm as an offshore employee (which was pretty funny since I was definitely on shore), they had me working from home 5 days a week to free up cubicle space. Mind you, I worked pretty much on my own, but with the panopoly of telecommuting tools available, it was easy to hold meetings and generally be involved. The downside is the lack of face time -- people tend to forget you exist if they don't see you, and while that's great if you're a programmer and want to get things done, it's lousy from a standpoint of keeping yoru job or moving up, as I found out when they ended my contract rather abruptly."

So how do you think croquet or game engines in a collaborative role will affect future telecommuters?

Re:more tinkering around the edges by cahiha · 2005-07-19 13:02 · Score: 1 · on KDE's future: Plasma & SimpleKDE

Is that really innovative, given that you can do the same thing with "Setting -> configure toolbars"?

That only lets you add buttons that the programmer decided to let you have.

I don't know, but it's certainly not too far-fetched, thanks to KParts.

KParts only lets you embed those things that have explicit code for being embedded.

I assume you mean things like http://www.croquetproject.org/ ? That's certainly a more radical change from what we have now, but it's just not ready yet for everyday use.

It's a "radical change" in the same sense that eating healthy is a "radical change" from eating junk food. If it weren't for 20 years of junk GUI programming in C/C++ by Microsoft, Apple, Gnome, KDE, DEC, and HP, it wouldn't be a "radical change"--Alan Kay's current work is merely the evolution of ideas that go back to the 1970's.

Re:more tinkering around the edges by Anonymous Coward · 2005-07-19 12:20 · Score: 0 · on KDE's future: Plasma & SimpleKDE

Can I embed the media player component into a KWord document by dragging its window there?

I don't know, but it's certainly not too far-fetched, thanks to KParts. You can embed a spreadsheet in your KWord document, or you can embed OpenOffice in your file manager. I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to embed a media player as well.

Can I add a button to the KMail user interface by dragging it there, then edit its function in place?

Is that really innovative, given that you can do the same thing with "Setting -> configure toolbars"?

Look at the work Alan Kay has been doing over the last decade; unlike what KDE is doing, his stuff is actually innovative.

I assume you mean things like http://www.croquetproject.org/ ? That's certainly a more radical change from what we have now, but it's just not ready yet for everyday use.

personally I like the idea of this better by chocotof · 2005-03-02 15:07 · Score: 0 · on LiveCD Lets You Try Out Project Looking Glass

3d is more than look there should also be added functional benefit. Checkout http://croquetproject.org/

As if windows wasnt slow enough-The Seers Way. by Anonymous Coward · 2005-01-13 14:38 · Score: 0 · on Windows Longhorn to make Graphics Cards more Important

Well well, the fates pervail.

Remember this? That's what's coming to Linux. Here's a summary for those who haven't seen the video, and explains the environment better. Couple that with this or this environment. And you begin to see the future of working with Linux. Collaboration is the OSS way, and with such a foundation. Everyone will be able to participate. Programmers, and non alike.

Croquet (OS) Anyone? by fygment · 2004-10-13 12:28 · Score: 1 · on Brain Controlled Computing a Reality

So maybe this, a HUD, and Croquet OS would provide a quadriplegic a very tangible sense of freedom from his/her physical constraints.

Can you not read for yourself? by daveschroeder · 2004-10-12 03:39 · Score: 1 · on Croquet Project Releases Initial Developer Release

And, for what it's worth, the submission says EXACTLY what the thing is...but it's a little hard to really describe the full import of what this is.

You could look at the FAQ and the screenshots for starters. Or maybe even download it and try it out.

The bottom line of the project is this: using everything we know now about the evolution of operating systems, user interfaces, and the internet, if we could start over and create a new platform that leveraged the network and all the capabilities of modern technology and our current knowledgebase, how would we do it?

This project attempts to answer that question, and it's pretty phenomenal.