Google borgs 3D desktop Google has acquired Bump Technologies, a more-than-three-year-old startup that offers a 3D desktop interface known as, well, BumpTop. Bump announced the deal with a post to its website. "More than three years ago, we set out to completely change the way people use their desktops," the company said. "Thanks again for all your …
I can't imagine why Google have bought these guys except maybe to snuff out some hi-tech "software visionaries" that give the rest of us a bad name.
Make a computer behave like a desktop because that's where it resides ... no.... make a computer work as PART of the physical desktop, dufus !
A Google search, obviously! ;)
Yeah, lasso to select could be handy in some cases where square selection picks up items I don't want (on the standard computer desktop), but watching the video left me thinking "so where's the improvement?'. If I move an icon across my desktop, I generally don't want physics knocking around other icons - you know, like when I move a piece of paper to place it on a real desk, I generally don't slide it across everything else to watch the amazing physics effects? And as plain 'pdf' icons... yep, I can see what's in on my current 2d desktop better. If I want a bunch of documents in a 'stack', I can, say, put them in a folder? Quicklook them? Lots of options with less complicated gestures anyways.
On the other hand: Congratulations to the developers if they had technology Google wanted - it has the money to pay for it and it's always nice to at least see someone trying something different whether I personally think it would make my life better or not. I've been wrong before - I mean, Bush DID get re-elected to a second term which I thought was impossible.
I stared at the demo and wondered 'why would goggle want this?' Then I saw it: not silly icon cards, picture Windows 7 screen shots (e.g. when a program is running, loaded, etc.)! It's got the potential to be better than the Windows 7 taskbar.
Desktop organizers are needed, and I use stardock's panel's myself, but could see myself switching to this if it'll somehow merge the current windows desktop icons wth the taskbar. Maybe something the comes out of a side like an office-type pop-out sidebar of which I've liked but could never find a use for.
WTF? Who needs them? Who puts so much crap on their desktop that it needs to be organised? That's what folders (and other, umm, organisation systems) are for. One actually needs precious few (if any) icons on the desktop. It's usually hidden by windows anyway.
If you want to see desktop organisation done properly, look at KDE (and this is coming from a Gnome user).
...the quality of disorganization naturally attending upon disorganized personal and organization-level working processes. So, they propose to codify that quality of essential disorganization, in an item of software? Are they that far beholden to analog process?
At the very least, it makes for an example of novel human-computer interface design - at some sort of an academic level, albeit - not necessarily practical, in that.
I can't believe it would be regarded as anything more than an academic "proof of concept", though. In that, at a conceptual level, perhaps it might serve as a fine example of cheesing-up the GUI in absence of an adequate data system design,
At the practical level, what it is? An item of software supporting a lot of novel actions for some three-dimensional document icons, and graphically rendering those icons in novel ways.
It begs the question: Why?
...and it was pants. All these desktop replacements seeking to "change the way we use computers" seem to do is slow down the experience with needless faffing. It's like all the early 90s sci-fi movies showing how we'd be using virtual reality to surf the web, flying from one place to another by going throug everything inbetween our curent location and that one - rather than the current, not confusing, method of typing an address and having it load near instantly.
I tested this when it first came out, It was slow and annoying on Windows.
It was a nice idea. but really its not going anywhere.
I think goggle just wanted something else to play with. Like a cat with a piece of sting they'll get bored of it.
In a year this software will languish in the "what ever happened to?" section.
Yep, I agree. It reminds me of seeing demos of how we'll all supermarket shop in the future, by pushing virtual trolleys down virtual aisles and having to drag and drop items from the shelves into the trolley! What a PITA that would be. Modelling physical processes is rarely successful, the computer ought to be able to make things far more efficient than that.
If an untidy desk signifies an untidy mind, what does an empty desk signify?
Bumptop may not appeal to hyper-organised people who are naturally pre-disposed to carefully filing their documents, but not everyone works like that. The semi-organisation of piles and the chaotic mixing of items saves on precision-organising time and may even allow serendipitous connections to be perceived that would not be apparent in a more rigid system. The ability to make piles and also view them in an organised way is having your cake and eating it.
I think this is a step in the right direction to a user-experience enhancing significantly 3d OS, and Google getting on board surely makes such a thing more likely.
It still seems a bit limited to me though - I'd like tohave folders (or boxes or rooms if you prefer), with the inside of each being a bumptop desktop. Doors or portals or some other connecting metaphor would join everything together. And dare i propose you might even have Windows to look in or out of...
When I was thinking of doing a PhD (well, 1988), I was going to do it on a 3D rep. of an entire office. Filing cabinets (click to look at files), typewriter (remember, 1988) for word processing, calculator, well, I think you get the idea. Unfortunately the 3D wasn't available to make it useful at the time.
Really surprised no-one has come up with anything like this that works yet. With video, music plus internet stuff, I think it might even be half decent. If someone smarter than me worked on it anyway.
Anon, because no-one is smarter than an AC.
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