Slashdot Mirror
Sphere XP Makes GUI 3D
Cypherus writes "I came across a link for a 3d desktop environment. "The SphereXP is a 3D desktop replacement for Microsoft Windows XP. Taking the known concept of three-dimensional desktops to its own level. It offers a new way to organize objects on the desktop such a icons and applications. Check the videos and screenshots to get the idea.""
..two posts and it's slasdotted. Here is the Google Cache.
I used it last week for a day and was quite impressed. It isn't perfect, some major bugs, some missing features and a slow memory leak that requires you to stop and start it every hour or so. But very usable.
What I thought was most cool about it was that it is very close to something I have been saying I wanted for a long time, except that I want to rotate the 'world' around me using a foot controller. In any case Sphere might just be pointing the way to a new GUI paradigm we can use for real work, something other than the 'desktop'.
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Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
I'm a subscriber, and the videos were already non-responsive before this story even went from red to green...
There used to be one: The SpaceORB 360. Sadly, it's not made any longer. SpaceTec later folded and had its assets acquired by LabTec, who still manufacture high-end 3D input devices, mostly targeted at the CAD market.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
I've found Apple's Exposé works wonders for the tried and true Desktop metaphor.
Throughout my workday, I've got dozens of PSDs open in Photoshop, twice that many documents open in BBEdit, plus other essentials like Safari, Firefox, Explorer, VirtualPC, Suitcase iChat, iCal, iTunes and Mail.
Exposé helps me find exactly what I'm looking for. Fast.
It's truly one of the few things I never knew I always wanted once I started putting it to use.
You can use the mouse wheel to move windows closer/further, or to move the camera position in and out. It is in fact 3d.
My server
The focused window comes up and is displayed in the normal "2d" manner. You can't even interact with windows that aren't on the 2d plane beyond dragging them around, and their window contents don't update realtime.
My server
Why not investigate some of the alternatives while the site is ./ed.
http://desk3d.sourceforge.net/
Sun's attempt
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Steed/3ddesktop/
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Rooms3d is a very immense desktop environment that views each "room" as a folder, with clickable objects as the items in the folder.
For example, a cool-looking dungeon would be the Control Panel, and wooden crates would be display, hardware configuration, etc. Like I said it's very immense and thourough but extremely cool.
The site is pretty thoroughly slashdotted. I grabbed it a few days ago, so... mirror. You'll want one of the sphere zips and the cgsl library.
My server
That was an actual program. 3D File System Navigator.
Although it's probably not needed anymore, there's a mirror of the software, movies and shots at PlanetMirror. Available via HTTP or FTP. They also have the .NET Framework available.
3d interfaces will be harder to use than traditional 2d interfaces. Its only the coolness factor, for the most part.
To look for an object, you will have the difficulty increasing exponentially in the third dimension.
Its an extension of Fitts Law - effectively, people are more likely to choose a stable 3d configuration and use it as a 2d interface.
Although, I guess that would entitle you to theoretically call it a 2.5d interface.
I got a chance to look at this program about a week ago when a friend installed it on my gaming PC I leave at his house.
To say the least the program has a long way to go before it can become a useful product. I admit that it has potential, but it has some issues.
Firstly, the images it produces are really choppy. It doesn't recreate the graphics of the apps in the background with enough detail. And I am not just talking about legability either. I had calc running in the background and the bottom of the application was cut off.
The next thing was the interaction in switching the applications from being into the foreground to the background. You have to click on the top of the app, just a pixel above the title bar. It, needless to say, took awhile to get the hang of it.
Another problem I had was applications that would disappear within the middle. You can zoom in and out of the 3d space, and its easy to lose an application that is in the middle. I managed to place a program in the middle of the desktop so that when I spun around you still could not find the application. One would assume I would eventually find it 180degrees around, but I didn't until I zoomed all the way out.
The last thing would have to be the fact that its not a true 3d environment. The desktop does not wrap around to the other side. When navigating all the way around, its not possible to come to a full loop.
Don't get me wrong though. I think this is quite an achievement for who designed it. And I think it deserves all the merit it can get.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
It's a cool project, but the poor guy's server is getting killed. :(
Here is a mirror to the movies & screenshots.