On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 9:15 AM, Mister Olli <mister.o...@googlemail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > your concept sounds heavy sci-fi but very interesting ;-)) > > I heard M$ is working on a concept with touch-screens much like in > minority report. I've even seen some products on cebit this year that > combine monitor+touchpad with some driver to do work the 'minority > report' style. > the big disadvantage is that you can't use it on every computer (think > of laptops). > so the basic input methods we know today should remain the basic input > methods in a new desktop concept (<-- IMHO ;-))
Its sounds M$ Surface[1] to me... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface > > btw 2010 sounds like a great year, if you really start developing a new > concept, let me know. I'm really interested and sure I can use some > spare-time for coding ;-)) > > Regards, > Olli > > On Mi, 2009-04-15 at 14:59 -0700, Arlo White wrote: >> I've been following the Enlightenment project for years, always >> impressed by the strength of vision and dedication of the developers. >> Every once in a while I take an inventory of the graphical toolkits out >> there and am always disappointed by the fact that the EFL is the most >> progressive desktop gui system out there and yet hasn't really broken >> into the mainstream. All the other GUIs (QT, GTK, Windows) are built >> around boring components (boxes, pull-downs, radio, etc.) The concepts >> behind these mainstream toolkits are decades old. >> >> When I look at the web, I see all of the excitement about Web 2.0 and >> the Cloud and "Linked Data". But it's all branded and contained within >> different application spaces. You go to GMail to access your contacts >> and send an SMS. You go to Facebook to update your status. You also >> have your status to set on GMail, AIM, and every other application. >> These things are really just implementations of a concept. This is >> especially confusing to less intuitive computer users. Users have to >> learn a ridiculous vocabulary to do things they already naturally >> understand: (eMail, Instant Message, AIM, GMail, Yahoo, Facebook, >> MySpace). Instead users should just have to think "I want to send this >> to Bob" (Email/IM) or I want to tell everyone who cares about me >> something (Post a Status). As the features these companies offer all >> coalesce, one wonders why we need to be branded at all? Why not just >> standardize on these features and give users more intimate access to >> them through their own computer. >> >> To make things worse, this is all implemented on a HTML/Javascript layer >> that was never designed for it. Developers have to wrestle with browser >> eccentricities and code hackery becomes a necessary part of the >> development cycle. Instead of looking for a better platform than the >> browser people have over-inflated its ego (and purpose) and made plugins >> for it. Now we have Ubiquity, a great idea built on the wrong >> platform. Rather than take a step back and design a new standard >> rendering layer we now have Flash, Silverlight, and JavaFX. The browser >> is tired and overloaded, it's laden with features that belong on your >> desktop, not next to your web page. >> >> If you've read sci-fi, or watched movies like Minority Report, you know >> what could be possible. Direct meaningful interaction with visual >> representations of data. I think now is the point in computer history >> where that vision can actually become a reality. It's simply the >> intersection of the browser, your desktop, the Web 2.0 services, and >> personal management tools like OmniFocus or mind-mapping tools >> (Freemind, Xmind, NovaMind, etc). >> >> So let me try to explain this idea more concretely... >> >> Imagine your desktop as a space with context. When you start working on >> a project, you create a new space/desktop for it. As you open >> files/email/urls it all gets associated with this context. When you >> decide to work an another project, you'll close this space. Later you >> come back to it, and everything is as you left it. When you search your >> computer you can search within a space or all spaces, and move or link >> things between spaces. A desktop will dynamically adjust to the >> contents. If you have 3 pictures you're working with, they'll just be >> thumbnails. If you're working with 1000 pictures, they'll be abstracted >> as a list that you can manipulate. >> >> Now imagine that all of these things you work with have meta data and >> tools associated with them. Your computer has a hierarchy of objects >> and tools. For example, a picture can be scaled, rotated, color >> filtered etc. Text can have different fonts, colors, be translated. >> These tools are really just simple programs or scripts that are visually >> abstracted. Eventually there might be a database of tools you could >> download for different purposes. This is one of the more difficult >> components to design well, but I think it can be done. >> >> Within a space you can create selections of different objects and save >> the selection. Once you have a selection you can act on it in different >> ways. You can act on their common properties. So since all objects >> have a creation date, you can sort by creation date. If they're >> pictures, you could rotate all of them. >> >> Now expand your concept of desktop objects. Not only can they be files, >> but they can be objects from a database or a website. They might be >> widgets like you would see on any of the portals (Google, Yahoo, etc) or >> desktops (Google Desktop, Gnome/KDE/E widgets). They might even be >> objects from the local database. >> >> Any of these objects can be acted on in certain ways. You can annotate, >> tag, categorize, or set a due date on them. You can also create basic >> elements and combine them. Rather than fire-up gEdit to take some quick >> notes, you just start typing notes on the desktop. You can tag these >> notes or set due dates for them, and they become todo items. You can >> type some text and then start formatting it. Then convert it to HTML or >> a Word Document or whatever. >> >> If you're still with me you have some kind of image of a desktop that >> understands many kinds of files and data objects and can represent them >> visually. A desktop that might look something like what you see in >> sci-fi movies where you can visually drill down, make selections, apply >> operations, etc. >> >> Imagine that you have a list of contacts that's deeply integrated with >> this desktop environment. When you open a message from someone on a >> space, the attachments can be moved onto your space and be manipulated >> as objects, you never have to open a save dialog. Also, the person >> becomes associated with the current context. These contacts have email >> accounts, im accounts, facebook accounts, etc, but you don't really care >> about that. You never open an email or instant message client. You >> simply get messages from the person and send messages. If the person is >> currently online through an im service the message is sent with that >> method. You can drag any object onto a message. The computer >> intelligently translates the data. So if it's a selection of rows from >> a database, it inlines it in the email as an html table. There's no new >> data formats or apis, when you get an email with an html table in it, >> you can drag it out into your space and manipulate it and break it >> apart. Imagine the power of this kind of easy communication and imagine >> that every object can be sent to someone. If an object is "online" it >> will give the person a link, if it's small it may inline it. In >> addition, you could invite people to collaborate on your space while you >> work on it. Or maybe work with online spaces stored elsewhere? >> >> I'm also thinking that this kind of computer environment would replace a >> certain amount of work done with data mining and database tools. I >> don't do much consulting work but I've encountered a few people that had >> a conceptually simple problem that required a database but the tools >> were just too hard to use and maintain. They really just needed a few >> tables with very simple associations. Imagine if you could just >> visually setup a database and define its entities and then manipulate >> and search it just like any other object on the desktop. Instead of >> developing custom reports for every database, you give people the >> availability to create tables and charts using any kind of object. Say >> you select a list of pictures, you can then graph the picture dates on a >> time line. Say you have rows from a database, you can do charts with >> the measures found within that data. >> >> Hopefully you understand what I'm getting at. The paradigm shift is >> huge, but I think it's the way computers need to go. Think about it, >> what does your email client or instant messaging client really give >> you. Aren't they just different interfaces around the same fundamental >> concept? If your computer was effective at organizing and archiving >> your email why would you even use an email client application? I >> believe this type of integrated desktop would completely replace your >> need for separate email, instant message, task management, photo >> management (Picasa) applications. >> >> I've been thinking about this project for a long time now and would like >> to begin serious work on it. I'd like to create a collaboration space, >> gather interest, and start documenting more concrete ideas and organize >> all of this into realistic releases and milestones. I plan to start >> coding in 2010 after I've had a chance to talk to different experts and >> design the main concepts. I'm curious though if this could become the >> Enlightenment Desktop or maybe the next release (0.18 or maybe 1.0)? >> >> If the developers are not interested in this vision than I'll probably >> just start a separate Linux desktop project that uses the EFL. Maybe >> call it Nirvana? >> >> Tell me what you think. Has anyone heard of similar ideas? I've tried >> to find projects related to this but I don't even know what to search >> for. It's a bit cynical but I truly believe that this is something that >> won't ever come out of the big companies and can only be developed >> through open source. Large web companies won't be interested because it >> essentially obsoletes most of their products. No need for Google Docs, >> GMail, Picasa, Yahoo's Portal/email, etc. I'm not sure Microsoft or >> Apple has the vision or desire either. >> >> Also, tell me if I'm totally crazy or not. Do some of you think about >> these concepts too? >> >> >> Sincerely, >> Arlo White >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and >> around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save >> $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. >> 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. >> Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p >> _______________________________________________ >> enlightenment-users mailing list >> enlightenment-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and > around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save > $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. > 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. > Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p > _______________________________________________ > enlightenment-users mailing list > enlightenment-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-users > -- ======================= Diogo Dutra Albuquerque Meu Curriculum Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/3624796077679922 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p _______________________________________________ enlightenment-users mailing list enlightenment-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-users
