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Killing Clutter With The Antidesktop

Posted by timothy on from the your-brain-is-your-panel dept.

Espectr0 writes "Hate window managers? Cannot live without one? Well, you can, kind of. A Freshmeat editorial called 'The Antidesktop' talks about how you can get rid of flashy, bloaty window managers without loosing functionality." It depends on how many tasks you want to keep track of in your head, too.

34 of 448 comments (clear)

  1. X-windows by CaptainAlbert · · Score: 4, Funny

    > I get the graphical abilities of X without all the clutter that usually attends it

    It would be churlish of me not to mention... :)

    X-Windows: ...A mistake carried out to perfection.
    X-Windows: ...Dissatisfaction guaranteed.
    X-Windows: ...Don't get frustrated without it.
    X-Windows: ...Even your dog won't like it.
    X-Windows: ...Flaky and built to stay that way.
    X-Windows: ...Complex nonsolutions to simple nonproblems.
    X-Windows: ...Flawed beyond belief.
    X-Windows: ...Form follows malfunction.
    X-Windows: ...Garbage at your fingertips.
    X-Windows: ...Ignorance is our most important resource.
    X-Windows: ...It could be worse, but it'll take time.
    X-Windows: ...It could happen to you.
    X-Windows: ...Japan's secret weapon.
    X-Windows: ...Let it get in *your* way.
    X-Windows: ...Live the nightmare.
    X-Windows: ...More than enough rope.
    X-Windows: ...Never had it, never will.
    X-Windows: ...No hardware is safe.
    X-Windows: ...Power tools for power fools.
    X-Windows: ...Putting new limits on productivity.
    X-Windows: ...Simplicity made complex.
    X-Windows: ...The cutting edge of obsolescence.
    X-Windows: ...The art of incompetence.
    X-Windows: ...The defacto substandard.
    X-Windows: ...The first fully modular software disaster.
    X-Windows: ...The joke that kills.
    X-Windows: ...The problem for your problem.
    X-Windows: ...There's got to be a better way.
    X-Windows: ...Warn your friends about it.
    X-Windows: ...You'd better sit down.
    X-Windows: ...You'll envy the dead.

    --
    These sigs are more interesting tha
    1. Re:X-windows by JordanH · · Score: 5, Funny

      The following has been attributed to Dennis Ritchie and Bill Joy, but I seem to remember it being Rob Pike. When someone pointed out that X fills a much needed void:

      "I have never seen anything fill up a vacuum so fast and still suck. --- Rob Pike, on X"

      Also, Dennis Ritchie was said to have been heard saying:

      "Steve Jobs said two years ago that X is brain-damaged and it will be gone in two years. He was half right."

  2. Warning by bucklesl · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...how many tasks you want to keep track of in your head, too.

    Do not chew bubblegum while attempting to use the Antidesktop.
    thank you.

    --
    help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
    1. Re:Warning by mccalli · · Score: 5, Funny
      Do not chew bubblegum while attempting to use the Antidesktop.

      Do not taunt Antidesktop...

      Cheers,
      Ian

  3. Re:loose versus lose by nmg · · Score: 1, Funny

    I agree. Porper English is nowhere to be seen these days.

  4. Ick by aengblom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not a fan of flashy bloated loose things.

    They're on street corners near my home a lot though.

    someone had to right?

    --


    So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
  5. Re:Is it just me? by zrodney · · Score: 5, Funny

    Basically, a maximized emacs window with all the commands you can use without a mouse, and no bloat.

    I think that's the first time I've seen Emacs and no-bloat in the same sentence! ;)

  6. Great by ksw2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just when I thought I was 1337 with fluxbox, now this. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

  7. Re:Sounds cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    >> I don't recall what it was, and they actually said "whoa" and took a step back

    Maybe you farted?

  8. And yet.. by whereiswaldo · · Score: 2, Funny

    And yet Microsoft still claims that Open Source threatens innovation. Pah!

  9. Re:loose versus lose by Espectr0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sorry, english is not my primary language. Not to be a troll, but what is the excuse of the editor? :)

    --
    Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
  10. Re:Infuriated With Improper Spelling by jxs2151 · · Score: 3, Funny

    How many more times do I have to read:

    "How many more times to I have to read..."

    when the author meant to say:

    "How many more times do I have to read..."?

  11. Window Manager without the bloat (PDF based!!!) by toupsie · · Score: 5, Funny
    Personally, I am tired of X-Windows and all the Window Managers associated with it. They are clunky hacks based on ancient tech. Fortunately for me, I found a modern, composited windowing system using the Portable Document Format (PDF) for my UNIX system. It sports crisp graphics, anti-aliased fonts, and blends 2D, 3D and multimedia content together with transparency and drop shadows. It even integrates OpenGL converting every window into a texture. As a bonus it supports all those non-Roman languages. Multiple monitor support is seemless -- no more hacking XFree86 files and searching for drivers and solving conflicts. Thank God!

    Check out its home page here.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    1. Re:Window Manager without the bloat (PDF based!!!) by toupsie · · Score: 3, Funny
      That's great. Now if you can tell me where to download the source code for that, I'll be quite grateful, as I'm pretty sure the supplied binaries won't run on all the x86 machines in my house.

      Unfortunately, I don't have the source handy as I tend to use their pre-compiled binaries. I really don't have time to compile their source everytime they update their code so I elect to use the binaries. If I were you, I would contact the author and see if you can get the source for usage on your x86-based UNIX system. It runs like a dream on my old PPC-based UNIX system. Much better than XFree86 and its various Window Managers.

      I can't believe I forgot. You can get a copy of Microsoft Office that runs on it if you need that kind of application for your business environment. Which I hear a lot of people do!

      --
      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  12. time warp by (trb001) · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can do fancier split screens to make several applications visible at once:

    Anyone else notice how his "screen split" looks amazingly like what Desqview did back in the day for BBS consoles?

    Good gravy, we've advanced to the point of reverting to 10 year old technology

    --trb

  13. I'm not illiterate, I type proper engrish! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Get over it, engrish is teh linga franca of the interweb! All your base are belong to us!

  14. Re:way OT, but Karma is cheap by DeadSea · · Score: 4, Funny

    But what about in the sentence:

    "The mime's opinion was a mute point."

  15. Footloose versus footlose by Ride-My-Rocket · · Score: 3, Funny

    One is an 80s Kevin Bacon movie; the other is something you don't want to do, unless you enjoy hobbling (different from hobbiting, btw) from one spot to the next.

  16. Re:loose versus lose by LMCBoy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Where is LoseNotLooseGuy when we need him?

    To the grammarmobile, LNLG!

    --
    Liberal (adj.): Free from bigotry; open to progress; tolerant of others.
  17. Re:loose versus lose by kelnos · · Score: 3, Funny

    i have friends that swear that you can spell "lose" (i.e. to misplace or create a lack of something) either "lose" or "loose." it pisses me off to no end.

    i maintain that the only reason you can do that is because so many people have made that common(?) mistake it has become allowed due to lack of education ^_~ ... or a lack of will to educate... *sigh*

    --
    Xfce: Lighter than some, heavier than others. Just right.
  18. Re:loose versus lose by deprecated · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fight the slackerly orthography! Those who can't spell lose or loose will lose loose and lose.

  19. Re:Id like to see this guy by Queuetue · · Score: 3, Funny

    Try using tabbed navigation, type ahead find, and the search mechanism. I shocked a co-worker yesterday when my mouse fell off the desk and I didn't slow down.

  20. Re:loose versus lose by JonWan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not to worry English isn't the primary language of the U.S. either.

    --

    "Hey, this is America. Speak Spanish, Damn it." - Cheech Marin

  21. Re:loose versus lose by Alien+Being · · Score: 5, Funny

    either "lose" or "loose."

    Their spelling rules are as lose as a gose.

  22. Re:loose versus lose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    dawg, i don't wanna be hearin that shiz about the way i get my word on, yo. just cuz you ain't be understandin my flava ain't be meanin that i don't speak good.

    it's murda murda murda!

  23. A tip to the fanatic by CCRancor · · Score: 4, Funny

    For a truly minimalistic GUI:

    alias startx='killall -9 *tty*' ;)

    --
    Open source is the art of letting other people write your bad code.
  24. Re:language evolves over time by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > Great thought, but if you are going to assign a new word to replace "lose", pick one that is not ALREADY IN USE. Loose is a word, and it already has a meaning.

    How about "Luse." (Or "luze", to throw a bone to the 1337 crowd?)

    As in, "I hereby loose the hounds of BOFH upon those who can't spell, for they luse badly."

    It looks weird at first, but compare it with "fused". It even has similar connotations - burned out, no longer workable, etc.

    So a loose fuse can't be fused, and is thus useless. A loose fuse is a lusing fuse until you unloosening it. A fused fuse worse that a loose fuse, it's a very lusing fuse. Luse that fused fuse, (you luser!) before something catches fire!

    The proposed conjugation:

    I luse, he luses, she luses, we luse.
    I lused, he lused, she lused, we lused.
    I'm erotic, my friend's kinky, those people are perverted.
    I'm a BOFH, my friend's a luser, those people are MCSEs. /rimshot.

    Now that we've loosed the tight fuses and lused the lusing fuses, can we talk about moose and mice? My sister was once bitten by a moose.

  25. Re:Me too. by josh+crawley · · Score: 2, Funny

    WHat's the deal with that window manager? It does look nice and all but does it randomly scribble out regions of your desktop like that.....

  26. Re:loose versus lose by plugger · · Score: 2, Funny

    I had never heard/seen this until about a year ago and now everyone seems to forget how to spell "lose". Where did this come from?

    They're just a bunch of loosers.

  27. Re:way OT, but Karma is cheap by spoon42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    people misusing cite/site/sight piss me off to no end.
    I've considered opening a troll account just to beat them about the head over it. :)

    --
    --- this comment is presented in WIDE SCREEN STEREO!!!
  28. Re:X's Multiple Personalities, and Windows by mblase · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wanted the same thing with Windows 2000 at work, but it wouldn't let me. I came close by opening my Display control panel and, under the "Effects" tab, replaced all my desktop icons with the tiny shortcut arrow. (I suppose I could have found an icon file which was completely blank, but I haven't bothered yet.)

    All that was left was the text and those tiny icons, which I arranged in a single row and gave a silver background color in the "Appearance" tab. I then set my desktop background image to a screengrab of my code editor.

    Now, whenever the boss is coming while I'm busy playing "Bejeweled", I just hit Win-D to hide all open windows, and casual passers-by think I'm terribly busy working on something very difficult.

  29. Re:loose versus lose by LoseNotLooseGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unfortunately, I was called away to an emergency at Kuro5hin. I told ThenOrThanBoy to keep an eye on things in my absence, but frankly I am beginning to doubt his commitment to the Cause.

    It's hard to find good minions these days.

    --
    Proudly correcting Slashdot's most irritating linguistic error since 2002.
  30. Re:way OT, but Karma is cheap by Brian+Kendig · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The mime's opinion was a mute point."

    Well, that goes without saying.

  31. Re:I have NO clutter. by spitzak · · Score: 5, Funny

    You just described a command-line interface. With the added feature that the ability to type the command requires you to clutter your desktop with icons that you will not click on. Brilliant.