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Google Acquires BumpTop Desktop

Posted by timothy on from the want-want-want dept.

TuringTest writes "BumpTop, a company that provides a multi-touch physical desktop metaphor, has been acquired by Google and made to 'no longer be available for sale.' BumpTop provides a direct way to handle information through simple gestures. Some media see this acquisition as a movement by Google to position against the iPad. Will BumpTop be ported to Android?"

4 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why? by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 5, Informative

    I had the pleasure of using the original FSN (That is the name) on Irix 6.5 on a beautiful SGI O2 R10k. A friend did 3D and video edition on two O2s for years, and he still has them (and they work beautifully).

    If you want http://fsv.sourceforge.net/ is a clone that works just fine in Ubuntu.

    Regarding 3D desktops, it's not the same concept, but Compiz is amazing (Yes, it's more than just nice effects :D )

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  2. Re:If it's like their other acquisitions by ShinmaWa · · Score: 5, Informative

    It'll languish for a few years

    More like hours. Right after they were bought, the software was EOL'ed. The "Pro" version was pulled immediately and users were given a week to download the Free version.

    Whatever Google plans to do with it, they don't want it available in its current form. This leads me to believe they want to kill it on Windows to use on ChromeOS.

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  3. Re:Google? Ohhh...um...oh yeah! by El+Capitaine · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/04/google-planning-to-open-the-vp8-video-codec.ars

    Apparently, Google is planning on doing just that.

  4. Re:If it's like their other acquisitions by Zarel · · Score: 4, Informative

    You mean like happened with their acquisition of Writely? ;)

    (In case the reference is unclear; Writely is what became Google Docs Writer.)

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