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3D Sphere Interface for XP
Brian Brian writes "I found this super cool 3D, inside a sphere, desktop interface. The videos really demonstrate it. I would love this built into OS X but it is just for Windows right now. And if nothing else, the paradigm is the coolest way to handle multiple screens." Here are a
collection of screenshots & videos. I'm skeptical that it wouldn't be very practical, but it sure looks fun.
Oh, and you might want to check this thumbnail for a glance or this screenshot to see the horror in all its' might.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4222.html
The best way, imoh, to implement a 3D interface to an OS is to make everything 3D models that you can interact with, rather than 2d planes that you can rotate/resize/etc in 3d space. It would just be really hard to get people to move away from the 2d way of thinking about interacting with a computer, but when the brain-jacks become mainstream more people will use this method of interface.
stuff
I confess to not looking at the software demo but if all it does is provide a greater surface area on which you place icons then there is absolutely no benefit to having it in 3D.
Having a spherical desktop does not make it any easier to find your files since there is no point of reference.
I saw the looking glass demo a long time ago, and even this does not go as far as it should.
If you imagine a 3d terrain, preferably photographic, with recognisable features as your desktop picture, you could place files in the distance or in the foreground and they would scale automatically in relation to their depth within the 'picture'. Now it wouldn't matter how small the icon was or even whether it was so distinguishable from the next one. The point is I would more easily remember which one it was because of WHERE it was - on the rocky outcrop to the left of the farmhouse.
A 3D sphere does not give you this frame of reference.
There is NOTHING stopping you from extending MS's OS. They even documented it very well. Try msdn.microsoft.com. You can even get the SDK's for free.
This dude tries and you slam him. Nice. If this had be on linux you would have been 'OH THIS IS AWSOME cant wait!'
I think this would have loads of applications. Monitoring for instance. It would be nice to be running 18 different system monitors all in this interface and all you have to do to see other screens is move your mouse.
The only problem is, currently, the windows will not update while inactive. So for monitoring it would be kind of stupid to keep looking at the same second in time.
Bullish Machine Tzar
Nominally, the game ends after you've captured all icons, but the semi-secretive 'Inner Demon' sequence allows you to win without completing such an arduous task.
A 14-day trial download is available; after the trial period has expired certain ships (including the array of 'Fuzzy Ones' such as the Platypus, Rubber Duck, and Fruit Bat') and features (such as saving the game) are disabled.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
I can't see a 3D Desktop ever becoming the way we use computers while we're still using a 2D screen. The image is distorted so much that it becomes useless. Navigation in a 3D relm with a 2D input and display is cumbersome, and really ... the current desktop systems work pretty darn good. The modifications / enhancements that Apple have included in OS X are additionally helpful, though there are changes I would make.
... what am I missing?
The ability to put a window into the dock is pretty nice, though that section should be larger so the contents of the window are still recognizable, while shortcut icons are still small (16x16-ish).
To get more 'desktop space' we've tried bigger displays with higher resolution; multiple virtual desktops; multiple displays; parts of the desktop sliding in and out of view
What we really want is the ability to see everything that's going on at the same time without having to turn our head or move anything on the screen.
I think if there were a system like Expose with a central area for displaying the current window, we'd be there. That way you could have all your windows displayed miniturized and your primary window large in the center of the screen. You could still get information from the rest of your windows without having to switch to them or stop whatever it is you're working on.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Over the years, I've tried out several "3D" window and file managers. Most are just eye candy, though I applaud the effort. The base problem seems to be that computers are designed, from the ground up, two dimensionally.
/usr are all the programs a user might need. This sits on top of root. Linux took this a bit further and added /usr/local for user installed programs (not managed by the distribution).
/home/username along with documents and everything else. Most system settings are under /etc. Mounted devices (CD-ROM) are under /media/cdrom or /mnt/cdrom. User programs are under /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin or /opt/program-name or /home/bin. Administration programs are under /usr/sbin or /usr/local/sbin. System programs are under /sbin or /bin
/srv).
In the DOS days, everything was dumped into a single directory. After a while, directory trees were developed to help organize the mess. Though a step in the right direction, directory trees are inherently two dimensional. About 1995, I started using UNIX (Solaris). One of the most interesting things I noticed was the three-dimensional aspect of the file layout. Off the root, you have everything needed to boot. Under
Way back in the day, I belonged to several Citadel bulletin boards systems. The Citadel system consisted of subject based rooms where users could leave messages (similar to USENET). These rooms were then organized by floor. You could see all of the rooms on a floor and all of the floors on a system. If you were on the "Computers" floor, you might see rooms for Atari or IBM. However, you would need to go to the "Music" floor to see rooms for Classical or Rock.
I've often thought that such a system would benefit Linux and inspire a truly useful "3D" environment. All the files used by the system (but not the user or admin) could be put on the system floor. Files used by the admin, but not the user, would be on the admin floor. User's files would be on the user floor. You move between floors as your needs change. Need to add a user to the system? Drop to the admin floor and add them. Need to write that report? Jump up to the user floor and start writing. This fits in well with the current Linux layout while adding better organization and separation of roles. It also frames a "3D" environment.
An example...
Currently, most user specific settings are saved under
In the floor system, user settings would be in [user]/etc. System-wide settings would be in [system]/etc. The CD-ROM could be mounted at [user]/mnt to restrict it to a single user, or [system]/mnt for system-wide access. User-specific programs would go under [user]/bin. System-wide user programs could go in [system]/bin. Administration programs might go in [admin]/bin and boot programs could go in [boot]/bin. You could even add [user]/documents, [system]/documents, and [daemon]/documents for individual user documents, system shared documents, and daemon specific documents (think
Obviously, floor organization would have to be thought out. However, the current system fits nicely on a per floor basis. Best of all, it makes security a breeze. You could restrict daemons to the [daemon] floor and users to the [user] floor. [system] could be setup on a read-only basis or with the directory sticky bit set. If something is needed between floors (passwd needs to be on the [user] and [admin] floor) you could create a link (ln command) between floors.
Well, to sum up my babbling... For a truly useful "3D" environment, you need to design the system, from the ground up, in 3D. Designing a 3D interface, that's patched over a 2D environment, will only produce eye-candy and research materials.
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I used the Litestep implementation of a virtual desktop manager where you could just pickup a window and drag it to another virtual desktop (it jumped from one to the other when the mouse hit the edge of the screen). I'm yet to see anything but extra physical screens beat that.