3D desktops
Beryl gives you four desktops to mess up.
While we all wait for Windows Vista to bring the "Wow" and Apple Inc. to drop its Leopard, it's a good time to examine what might make a next-generation computer desktops really cool. One thing is certain; your next desktop will be more 3D and have task-juggling capabilities to satisfy even the most ADD among us.
BumpTop is a physics-based desktop prototype meant to behave as much as possible like an actual desk. It debuted last June but is getting renewed attention from the developer's presentation at Demo Camp in Montreal. With BumpTop, files can be thrown into loose piles, tidied into neat stacks, or fanned out like a deck of cards. BumpTop looks like good fun, but the Type A part of my personality shudders to think that my computer's desktop could look just as messy and cluttered as my physical desktop.
If you want an experimental desktop to play around with now, you can install a Linux-based operating system called Beryl that goes absolutely nuts with 3D. This is a multitasker's dream platform that not only uses an OS X Expose-like method for juggling windows but goes a step further by letting you juggle four distinct desktops across a 3D cube. There are tons of Beryl 3D videos up on YouTube (that's right, popular videos of people showing off their desktops), but here's one with a soundtrack and a presumably caffeinated user.
Will we see features like these in a conventional Windows or Apple operating system? Maybe not. Will the alpha geeks among us take up the cause of tactile 3D computer interfaces and 3D desktop systems in an effort to impress the girls? Undoubtedly.
Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs. 
Mac has had Expose for quite a while now, and in my opinion, works better than Flip 3D used in Vista.
Beryl, as mentioned in the article, is head and shoulders above any of the graphics possibilities of the "major" OS (Apple & Mac). Not only is linux completely free of charge, including all it's programs that come with it and are downloadable -- it's extremely efficient and truly works on a vast array of computers.
If you want to see a real "wow" Beryl is the second coming of what computer graphics can do for your desktop.
If anyone is interested in Linux, the easiest I've tried is PCLinuxOS which is really easy to set up and start up from Windows. Unfortunately, their online messageboard and community is lacking; although if you need help and want to try an OS that is constantly upgraded try Ubuntu Linux which has a new version of their OS coming out in about a week -- and their online community is some of the nicest and smartest I've seen on the Internet.
something that could/should be implemented in the major OS's (Windows & OS
X)right now!
thinking that flashy graphics equals good UI.
**** with hundreds of lines of not needed codes that you have to modify just
to change a tiny feature. OXS is different in that i can actually find something
and then change it with a click and without wrting any code. OSX is also 10
times faster hence runiing 10 full 1080i movies at the same time with no lag
on a laptop or running all the aplications on the comuter, including games
photoshop, final cut and other demanding thaning, at the same time. Try that
on your 3d desktops. They also decrease funtionality unlike expose which
actually serves a purpose. None of the other OS have simple way to pull up
widgets, space, go directly to the desktop or flip through 100s of windows.
Also people think that OSX can not be modified. To them i say come look at
my matrix desktop where the icons and background are made up of scrolling
matrix codes. Infact every thing is a matrix code scrolling and windows are
defined by a 3d hight difference in this code. Sound uterly useless, well it is
but still fun as hell.
actually most of the linix thing they showed are stolen from OSX which still
does it better and easier and earlier. If you really get down to it, all modern
OS things were basically stolen from NEXT who existen in the early 90's and
was founded by steve jobs.
As for Beryl, I was not impressed at all. It basically has OS X's Dock Genie effect, Cube Flip animation, and Expose. Not exactly ground-breaking when you are playing catchup.
- could I boot both linux and windows vista?
- by straylight516 April 7, 2007 11:41 AM PDT
- I'm buying a dell pc with windows vista. I'm wondering if i could run both operating systems instead of just one. This makes me want to run linux which looks very nice.
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- You Can But....
- by Homestarrunner April 7, 2007 2:42 PM PDT
- I'm all for the promotion of Linux (I use it myself), But unless you have above average knowledge of computers and troubleshooting skills (Hard to tell your skill level from you comment) I would strongly caution you. It is not as easy to use as Windows. And if you are going to start using linux, don't do it for the flashy effects. In my oppinion, they get old pretty quickly, and slow down the computer a little bit. But if you want to try it, download Mandriva One ( http://www.mandriva.com/en/download) It allows you to start up linux right from the cd without installing it to your hard disk, and it has Beryl built in from the get go ( Beryl is not an operating system like they said but an add-on for linux, more specifcally a window manager).
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