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BumpTop, Pushing the Desktop Metaphor

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the slide-'em-around dept.

Alranor writes "BumpTop is a new way of manipulating your GUI desktop with a graphics pen. Documents can be moved and piled (among other actions) as if they were real pieces of paper on a physical desktop. Simulated real physical interactions, such as documents pushing others out of the way as you move them around, are intended to increase the intuitiveness of the layout tool. Given the messiness of my desks at work and home, I'm not so sure this will work for me, but it's an interesting idea." There's a neat video demo linked from the site (and a "hip-hop overview") if you want to see BumpTop in action; unfortunately for Linux users, BumpTop seems to be Windows-only. As reader idangazit describes it, this is "not just another "me-too" alternative UI; a lot of effort and polish has been put into the (pen-based) interaction, resulting in a very natural way of interacting with collections of information. Less sci-fi than Minority Report, but far more likely to hit a desktop near you in the next few years."

Update: 06/22 16:55 GMT by T : As zdzichu reader points out in the comments below, a visually similar project called lowfat, with an equally impressive video demo, is being developed — with enough sponsorship, lowfat will go open source.

3 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Impressive, but usability?.. by ilovegeorgebush · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It does look very cool, but I can't help thinking if it would actually be practical or usable.
    Features such as the LassoMenu look awesome, but in all honesty, I can't see how I could apply it enough to be proactive.

    Of course, developement of such technologies is always a good thing, and its good eye-candy if only that :)

    --
    ilovegeorgebush
  2. Why emulate old technology? by gasmonso · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The whole point of having a computer is to free yourself from paper. So why would you take a step back and try to digitally emulate a system that is antiquated? A computer offers endless opportunities for organizing and storing data, I see this as a step back.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/
  3. The trouble is... by Orange+Goblin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...you'll spend all your time playing with the physics engine, and none of it doing any actual work.