Slashdot Mirror
Sun to GPL Project Looking Glass
elleomea writes "According to The Register, Sun is releasing Project Looking Glass, their new GNU/Linux based 3D window managing system, under the GPL during their JavaOne conference (beginning today)." The screenshots of Looking Glass make it out to be very pretty. I'm not sure if I have the spare CPU cycles to power such an environment, but it's sure nice to drool over.
Here's hoping it's as functional as it is good looking, or it is all for naught.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
I mean, come on, everyone *want's* the latest and greatest, it's just those of us who can't justify it that don't actually go out and buy them :-)
:-)
:-(
Personally I've stuck with a Matrox G450 for what seems like the longest time simply because it was the one of the first (and the best) at dual monitor display, and I *like* that - 3200x1600 displays are really nice when you've lots of editor windows open
Ah well, if it does take off, guess I'll be getting an nVidea or ATI card, which means a PCI-X motherboard, might as well throw in an Athlon-64 (maybe FX), and I'll want PC3200 RAM. Damn that's an expensive desktop
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
And think in the nice animations and graphic effect of MacOSX, if they are happy with it, maybe will not be so bad under Linux.
Instead of wasting time of super cool, awesome 3D spinning, rotating and flipping translucent windows with shadows, how about establishing some GUI standards for Linux to make it easier to use for the grandmas and grandpas of the world. No amount of Linux screen real estate bling bling is going to make it a better OS for the common user.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Which everybody seems to forget its more then a GUI, but a framework to develop 3D aplications as well.
So yes, it's a waste of cycles as a just another desktop, but plenty apps can benefit from a common 3D interface.
That is what is interesting about looking glass.
The use of transparent windows seems to be standard now, but would it be possible to create an OpenGL context which allowed the application to specify a transparent background color, which allow the current desktop to be seen underneath?Combine this with the "no window frames" option of X-windows, and some really cool visualisations could be written.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
First, people say this every damned time an improvement is made to a GUI. If anybody listened, we'd all still be using CLI exclusively. Second, most people using their 3 GHz machine for office work most certainly DO have the spare cycles.
Additionally, it looks like the improvements will really make a usability difference in how we interact with the UI. Keeping notes on an application window, tilting the windows to keep most of the perceptual information (btw, using foreshortening to effectively compress windows is a great idea), making multiple desktops more perceptual, etc are all good ideas that will help people interact more intelligently with their programs.
I think this is a great start, and with some tightening and more well-implemented ideas, I can't wait to see this in a mainstream OS.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
I agree. This is lame. The screenshots and all smell to me like someone's PHD thesis.
As shown this has glaring issues:
- reading vertical text on side of windows is uncomfortable.
- how is spinning a window around to look at properties better than opening up a separate properties dialog???
- java?
- i would be suprised if human factors has been involved in project to this point.
If/when this comes to market, it will look and behave much different than shown.
Hey! Stop copying my sig!!! Stop copying my sig!!! Stop copying my sig!!! Stop copying my sig!!!
Technology is supposed to be fun too. I think that most people who read this site got into technology because they found it interesting and fun. Looking Glass is a technology with a high fun factor and I welcome it. I can't wait to see what kind of cool stuff will come out of it when it is GPLd.
ayottesoftware.com
The problem is not the environment, but the primary human interface to the environment, which is the mouse. Having virtual 3D on a computer is completely intuitive to a human being; it's how we organize everything in real life. But mice were born in a 2D environment and that's what they're good at.
Until they invent and standardize a 3D 'gesturing' interface (think Tom Cruise in Minority Report, for example), the 3D desktop will remain without much practical value.
Imposing Libertarian views on everyone online since 1992.
mods on crack again... serious outbreak of the old "if microsoft windows doesn't have it then there's no point in it" type of comment to anything positively different in the way of UIs. The only reason we're not seeing any posts berating the use of multiple desktops with pagers these days is because Microsoft is bringing them finally to the market in the form of Longhorn... after having had them hidden away for a long time now as an unnofficial tweakUI app. The moaners have got to go with the flow now as it's been decided for them that multiple desktops are now in... and I've just wasted my ability to moderate any posts in this topic...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Please tell us,
when Java is Open Source, how will standards compliance be enforced ?
When Sun gets a good answer to that question, I believe they very well may make Java more open than it is, if not make it completely FOSS. Even with it being as 'closed' as it is, it's *still* more difficult to write-once than it should be ( though easily do-able ), just because their compatablility tests don't catch the sometimes subtle bugs that application developers can run into. It's a fine line to walk; Sun doesn't want to force bug-free JVMs before a vendor can release, or they'd never get to market, but the goal of cross-platform compatability requires nearly bug-free or bug-compatable VMs. It's a tough enough task without some independant developer with GPL'd source deciding to release a 'tweaked' version that doesn't support 90% of javax.swing.*, just because they're 'only targeting platform XYZ" or whatever.
It's very well to argue that Java should be open source, but to do so without addressing the issues involved is almost like trolling...
And yes, I agree completely that open source is good, but what exactly does Sun have to gain by your proposal ?
That, and how off-topic is Java from the story at hand? Way, way off-topic.
I mean, c'mon, how frickin' cool would it be to have this kind of 3D desktop running on an Opteron-based Linux machine with a really nice graphics card in it? Damn! You should be singing the praises of Sun right now, what's wrong with you, man, what's it take to get you excited ?!? You get FP and *that* is the best you can do, a tired old "what about Java" bitch ?!? This is about a cool 3D desktop demo going GPL !
I know Mr. AC is trying to be funny, but this crap really pisses me off. For one, JAVA IS NOT SLOW. It gained that reputation back when it lacked a JIT compiler. Sun corrected that problem pretty fast, but the idea just won't go away. Granted, some of the APIs are such that they can appear to be quite slow to those who don't know what the hell they're doing. I'm always hearing from people who say "My game only runs at 10 FPS! Whaa! Java Sucks!" To which I usually reply "Are you using BufferStrategy, the core of the 2D gaming API?" The Deer-in-the-Headlights looks on their faces are priceless. To which they then mumble something about thinking Swing was somehow the way to write games.
Secondly, the Looking Glass project uses OpenGL. I don't care what language you're using, OpenGL performance is limited by the video card and bus, not by the CPU. If your 3D apps are slow, it's because you don't know what the f*** you're doing. That goes for C, C++, Python, Ruby, and yes: JAVA.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Reading through the posts I see numerous people complaining about how this is pointless and a waste of cpu cycles and has no benefits over a traditional 2D desktop.
You are failing to realize that by open sourcing this project, sun can harness the creativity of the open source community to improve this project and make it into something you would actually want to use on a daily basis instead of just a gimmick to show off to your friends.
This is a step in the right direction and I am excited that they are releasing this.
File JAVA and its promise of platform independance away with all those AT&T commercials from the mid 90's that promised you would soon be able to check out and read entire books via the internet, make video phone calls, and perform remote heart surgery with their new technology.
All that stuff is possible now, unless you're referring to how long it took to do it.
-Dizzle
"I most likely AM so interested in myself."
It's great that Sun has GPL'ed this desktop, but it has absolutely zero chance of mainstream Linux adoption. Why? Because it requires Java to run, and the Java environment itself is not open source. Remember the whole KDE debacle about Qt not being free enough? Multiply that by a few million times and you'll see why Looking Glass won't make it past "gee, that's cool" in the Linux world.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Uh, have you SEEN Java games that use OpenGL? It's a disgrace. I can't believe people like you bother to defend it.
I have, but apparently you haven't. Let me introduce you:
Wurm Online
Cosmic Trip
Alien Flux
In my experience, C or C++ is faster across the board, regardless how piss-poor the coder is.
You mean, in your bias C or C++ is faster across the board. From your first paragraph, it seems obvious that you've never used any serious Java apps. OTOH, it may very well be the result of a new syndrome that's been forming. People don't know they're using Java! A perfect example of this is the #1 BitTorrent app, Azureus. It looks and works so good that no one questions what is under the hood!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Much easier to use than the unrealistic "desktops" of yopre, wher I can only make a huge mess of things on two axes!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."