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Forgive me. I thought we were talking about a desktop here. Anyway, that reminds me of this hyperbolic tree and the brain. The first can't show multidimensional data. The second can, though it just makes semi-transparent links between categories and objects and isn't good for anything other than traversing its tree/web in a single context.

But Windows 9x only I believe

I really like the Brain download. It's only win32, but a really new approach for the desktop.

Umm... check me if I'm wrong here, but PalmOS seems like a good candidate for most of the things you've described! Yeah, one could possibly make the argument that "it's not a *real* OS" but it's nonetheless clear that they put a lot of thought (read: research) into it!

You turn on the computer and it works instantly.
Yup.

Whenever you feel like stopping you turn off the computer.
Yup, this one too.

You never have to save your files, you always work with up-to-date information
Hmm, not sure (I don't actually own a Palm yet) but I think this is true.

You never have to drag or resize a window
Okay, PalmOS kinda breaks here with the whole multiple-window concept.

My mom can store her weaving project ideas on it without any help
I don't think anyone will argue that there is a lot of room for ease-of-use research!

You never have to remember obscure names, everything is built out of a small set of simple blocks
Have you seen "The Brain"? It's certainly not an ideal solution - but it's definitely some damn impressive research in this direction.

You never think about "connecting to the internet", you just work with data that happens to be located somewhere else
Now don't get me wrong - I am certainly no supporter of M$ - but I give credit where it's due. I won't claim they did a good job of it, but isn't that what Billy Boy was claiming they were trying to do when they pushed for IE integration?

I think that there is some damn good research being done - even some of it by people we "may not like" such as MicroSloth. As an example, their new optical mouse is damn impressive - not dreadfully useful *yet*, but wait until someone figures out that this technology could be used to build a industrial-ruggedized version!

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Seems to me that there are already two solutions that will handle exactly what you describe. They are both low cost, intuitive and user-friendly. Arguably, once you've used either product, you may fuind it difficult to manage without them (at least, I know I do ;->). The products are:

1) "The Brain" by Natrificial. You can check it out at thebrain.com
A relational File-manager for Windows.

2) BeOS

Clearly the solution is here. The question is: will enough people adopt it to make it work?

FYI: The Brain is by Natrificial. Pretty cool little program, too bad it's windows only. I actually hacked around with the file format and got it pretty much flushed out. I would make a version for Linux, but they have patented the UI.

The Brain.

Perhaps everybody has seen The Brain which has an interesting visualization system, to say the least. I would love to see a more integrated solution under linux, with Web Browsing and Searching, plus link managment/browsing using something like DaVinci , which has an excellent (soon to be improved) API which could create/browse highly structured document links.

This would make an excellent concept like Everything useful for everyone...

There are more metaphors that take the SunLabs concept further. The neuron/brain model is common to a lot of these UI programs.

• Thought Stream is a Palm program that allows you to store information and organize it by associations or links between ideas.
• Thinkmap has generated a really neat Java applet with www.bacardi.com (must be 21 to enter ;) to create an interactive web site that should leave a lasting impression even on heavy drinkers.
• Natrificial has a software product called "The brain" that was so awesome, it was the first shareware product I ever purchased. The metaphor it uses for finding information is like that of SunLabs except it is better.
  I could create a "brain" whose central point is "college", around that point is college related stuff like: Chicago, beer, frat, and Kim. I tie the thought of Minneapolis to Kim since that's Kims home. Rob is also from Minneapolis but now he's in Chicago. Rob gets generated as having links to the existing Minneapolis and Chicago thoughts.
  Now when I road trip to Chicago next, I can navigate to that thought and see links to Rob (and thoughts tied to Rob in the distance), college (and things associated with college in the distance). Ain't that slick.
  And the beauty of this is that it's a slick UI for Windows (flames ignored) and the files can be imported into Thought Stream.
• MindManager is another Win-doze client with some neat functionality. It uses the powerful concept of Mindmapping techniques to capture ideas and designs plus it has some good web export functionality.
• Visual Mind is like MindManager above, only I think it's not as powerful.

Now if there was a product that merged the Lifestreams metaphor and "the brain" metaphor and included an HTML import/export function; I really doubt Mr. John Doe office worker would ever want to see a hierarchical or static 2D view of his files again.

Yes. Without question I say yes. If you try to deliver the entire power of Linux at any one time to an interface, it will never be easy to use. However, by revealing to a user just the commands and options they need to do whatever they're focused on at that point in time, you cut down the complexity.
I'd love to see either the Gnome or KDE crews looking at alternatives (or at least enhancements) to the hoary old WIMP interfaces. Myself, I'm working on a Linux/GPL application rather like Natrificial's Brain that can act a an alternative way to navigate the in formation on a computer. The Brain is what I use every day instead of the Windows 98 Explorer and I find it much more effective.

This is kind of likeThe Brain.

I used it a lot when I used M$. I liked it a lot, and I miss it. It was absolutely the most useful information organization tool I've ever encountered.

It even saved info in notes area automatically evertime you type so that when M$ froze, you would still have all your data.

I think there is a linux version "Synapse" in the works, but it's not complete, and has a way to go (I believe). They have a Palm version becoming stable IIRC.