Desky
April 8, 2009 5:17 AM Subscribe
Thought you guys might want to try this Pepsi Blue Bumptop Thingy. Like a real desk? You decide. Previouslah
Yes, I got this link via twitter. Wanna take it outside? :-)
Yes, I got this link via twitter. Wanna take it outside? :-)
It remains to be seen if it will catch on in the business world, where people use computer for real work and not just dicking around.
posted by jbickers at 5:26 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by jbickers at 5:26 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
This Social Desktop allows me to toss off to pics of my friends? It's about time!
I'd better read that again. It sounds too good to be true.
posted by orme at 5:40 AM on April 8, 2009
I'd better read that again. It sounds too good to be true.
posted by orme at 5:40 AM on April 8, 2009
Yes, I got this link via twitter. Wanna take it outside? :-)
Twitter, eh?
*sound of bar stool scraping across floor*
Seriously, this looks pretty damn cool. I'll give it a try when I get home.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:58 AM on April 8, 2009
Twitter, eh?
*sound of bar stool scraping across floor*
Seriously, this looks pretty damn cool. I'll give it a try when I get home.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:58 AM on April 8, 2009
bump
posted by Sailormom at 6:15 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Sailormom at 6:15 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
I'm sure this will have no problems scaling to meet the demands of the "power user" who has a few thousand mp3s or photos stored on their computer.
posted by device55 at 6:24 AM on April 8, 2009
posted by device55 at 6:24 AM on April 8, 2009
Note to application demo-video makers: when you say your app "smoothly zooms", try to make sure the zoom is actually smooth.
posted by pyrex at 6:27 AM on April 8, 2009
posted by pyrex at 6:27 AM on April 8, 2009
Maybe I'm old-school. I have actual piles of work-related crap on my actual desk. I like my computer desktop to be fairly pristine. But I can see how the stacks of stuff and search capability and previews of files would be useful, if I wasn't already using an OS that had that sort of thing built in.
Not so fond of the random angle positioning thing. Even the piles of actual crap on my actual desk are generally neatly stacked. Seems like more visual clutter to me.
People seem to be trying very hard to make a 3D desktop. I don't really understand why, personally. Just because modern computers can handle the processing overhead to do such a thing doesn't mean it's useful. It's like the transparency effects in Vista and Leopard. It might be visually interesting, but it doesn't actually add any functionality. All it really does is bump up the minimum system requirements. But don't mind me if you like it, I haven't finished my coffee yet this morning, so I'm probably still running in cynical mode.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:29 AM on April 8, 2009
Not so fond of the random angle positioning thing. Even the piles of actual crap on my actual desk are generally neatly stacked. Seems like more visual clutter to me.
People seem to be trying very hard to make a 3D desktop. I don't really understand why, personally. Just because modern computers can handle the processing overhead to do such a thing doesn't mean it's useful. It's like the transparency effects in Vista and Leopard. It might be visually interesting, but it doesn't actually add any functionality. All it really does is bump up the minimum system requirements. But don't mind me if you like it, I haven't finished my coffee yet this morning, so I'm probably still running in cynical mode.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:29 AM on April 8, 2009
That's cute, but 99% of my time on my computer, the desktop isn't visible anyway. I'm much more likely to use OS/UI features like taskbar/dock modifications, Dashboard (no Windows equivalent that I'm aware of), and so forth.
This might be nice for the folks with the 27" flatscreen monitors where Firefox is only taking up a small portion of real estate, but I tend to keep my browser window maximized and it's front-and-center.
posted by explosion at 6:33 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
This might be nice for the folks with the 27" flatscreen monitors where Firefox is only taking up a small portion of real estate, but I tend to keep my browser window maximized and it's front-and-center.
posted by explosion at 6:33 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
*sound of bar stool scraping across floor*
Queensbury rules, then?
posted by chuckdarwin at 6:38 AM on April 8, 2009
Queensbury rules, then?
posted by chuckdarwin at 6:38 AM on April 8, 2009
Oi, explosion: Aqua Dock
Windows doesn't have a Dashboard equivalent that I know of. The taskbar is fine.
posted by explosion at 6:52 AM on April 8, 2009
Windows doesn't have a Dashboard equivalent that I know of. The taskbar is fine.
posted by explosion at 6:52 AM on April 8, 2009
I like it. But I'm on a mac so can't try it. My desktop is always a mess.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:53 AM on April 8, 2009
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:53 AM on April 8, 2009
OOOOH! Piles! Grids! a three-D experience, just like in my cubicle at work! OHHH!
Sorry, lame.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:54 AM on April 8, 2009
Sorry, lame.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:54 AM on April 8, 2009
Two words, four syllables.
Microsoft Bob.
posted by The Whelk at 6:57 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
Microsoft Bob.
posted by The Whelk at 6:57 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
One of the things I like about my (flat, boring) computer is that it is inherently neater than my real desk. Also, my real desk's search function is horribly analog and not constrainable by date or object type.
posted by doctor_negative at 7:04 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by doctor_negative at 7:04 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
Will it let me make my desktop look like the OS from Serial Experiments Lain? That's all I've ever really wanted from a computer.
posted by Caduceus at 7:09 AM on April 8, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by Caduceus at 7:09 AM on April 8, 2009 [3 favorites]
Lately I've found my UI needs actually devolving into simplicity.
I used to run GNOME with Compiz-Fusion and all the wobbly window/menus on fire/revolving desktop cube goodness it entailed. Then I changed to plain old Metacity with slight window shadows.
And now I'm using wmii.
posted by PenDevil at 7:10 AM on April 8, 2009
I used to run GNOME with Compiz-Fusion and all the wobbly window/menus on fire/revolving desktop cube goodness it entailed. Then I changed to plain old Metacity with slight window shadows.
And now I'm using wmii.
posted by PenDevil at 7:10 AM on April 8, 2009
The only people this would be useful for are people who don't actually use computers.
I.e. 90% of the population. Look at any non-techie's desktop and you'll find a jumble of unrelated files. They don't know anything about making folders or sorting files. This would help them immensely. If someone else installed it for them.
posted by DU at 7:16 AM on April 8, 2009
I.e. 90% of the population. Look at any non-techie's desktop and you'll find a jumble of unrelated files. They don't know anything about making folders or sorting files. This would help them immensely. If someone else installed it for them.
posted by DU at 7:16 AM on April 8, 2009
Dashboard (no Windows equivalent that I'm aware of)
Win7 effectively clones Dashboard. The "gadgets" are moved from the sidebar to the desktop, and there's a show desktop hover-button on the taskdock that leaves the gadgets
posted by ConstantineXVI at 7:21 AM on April 8, 2009
Win7 effectively clones Dashboard. The "gadgets" are moved from the sidebar to the desktop, and there's a show desktop hover-button on the taskdock that leaves the gadgets
posted by ConstantineXVI at 7:21 AM on April 8, 2009
Interesting, but 29$?
Hey BumpTop - how about rather than you letting me know when it's available for Linux, I let you know when someone builds a clone of it and offers it up open-sourcified?
posted by mannequito at 7:22 AM on April 8, 2009
Hey BumpTop - how about rather than you letting me know when it's available for Linux, I let you know when someone builds a clone of it and offers it up open-sourcified?
posted by mannequito at 7:22 AM on April 8, 2009
Win7 effectively clones Dashboard.
Win7 isn't available, and if it follows the standard Microsoft OS scheme, won't be usable for at least another 2-3 years. From 98, to skipping Me, to XP, to Vista, they've almost uniformly been bad at launch, followed by a wave of "try it again, it's better now" from MS fans. Not even bashing Windows, I like it well enough when it works, but they always rush shit out the door.
My main point, in any case, was that for users like me anyway, Desktop mods aren't likely to get much use.
posted by explosion at 7:53 AM on April 8, 2009
Win7 isn't available, and if it follows the standard Microsoft OS scheme, won't be usable for at least another 2-3 years. From 98, to skipping Me, to XP, to Vista, they've almost uniformly been bad at launch, followed by a wave of "try it again, it's better now" from MS fans. Not even bashing Windows, I like it well enough when it works, but they always rush shit out the door.
My main point, in any case, was that for users like me anyway, Desktop mods aren't likely to get much use.
posted by explosion at 7:53 AM on April 8, 2009
I don't even like the fact that the newer versions of Firefox have scroll arrows on the Tab bar if you have too many open; I do many different things on the computer at once, and if can't see something, I forget it's there, so imagine my chagrin when Firefox hides things from me.
I don't want my desktop doing the same thing.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:00 AM on April 8, 2009
I don't want my desktop doing the same thing.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:00 AM on April 8, 2009
Is this going to be like one of those "magic eye" posters? If it requires reconfiguring my binocular vision, I'll need to upgrade my brain--I can never do those things. However, if I can just reach in there like I would the refrigerator, that'd be fine.
posted by not_on_display at 8:13 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by not_on_display at 8:13 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
I know that I'll uninstall this almost immediately for the same reason everyone else is bitching--who on earth has enough single-minded attention to ever see their desktop? I have, currently, 17 windows open (with 9 tabs in Chrome). This is about average for me.
Nevertheless, ever since I saw that TED talk I've been wanting to try this out! So far it looks like it really does do what it claims, and really is super cool about it! Maybe what it does isn't very useful, but that's a secondary question.
I have a lot of junk on my desktop, and "Pile by type" sorted it all into seven stacks based on filetype. The stacks are varying sizes depending on number of files, and it's pretty easy to see that I have a huge number of shortcuts and quite a lot of image files, and a fiar number of PDFs. If I had wanted to work with the stuff on my desktop today, this would have been a really keen way to do it!
posted by Squid Voltaire at 8:16 AM on April 8, 2009
Nevertheless, ever since I saw that TED talk I've been wanting to try this out! So far it looks like it really does do what it claims, and really is super cool about it! Maybe what it does isn't very useful, but that's a secondary question.
I have a lot of junk on my desktop, and "Pile by type" sorted it all into seven stacks based on filetype. The stacks are varying sizes depending on number of files, and it's pretty easy to see that I have a huge number of shortcuts and quite a lot of image files, and a fiar number of PDFs. If I had wanted to work with the stuff on my desktop today, this would have been a really keen way to do it!
posted by Squid Voltaire at 8:16 AM on April 8, 2009
@Uther Bentrazor: Tab Mix Plus may relive some of that chagrin.
posted by buzzv at 8:19 AM on April 8, 2009
posted by buzzv at 8:19 AM on April 8, 2009
"The only people this would be useful for are people who don't actually use computers."
I.e. 90% of the population. Look at any non-techie's desktop and you'll find a jumble of unrelated files. They don't know anything about making folders or sorting files. This would help them immensely. If someone else installed it for them.
posted by DU at 10:16 AM on April 8
Just because people's desktops are messy doesn't mean we aren't using our computers for work, or don't have other files elsewhere that we are using for work, or that we don't know how to install our own programs.
My computer desktop is completely littered with icons. But why are they there? Because they aren't very important. They are files I've downloaded and already installed, a journal article I kind of mean to read but haven't gotten around to, the floor plan made a year ago when we were arranging furniture, a recipe for pease pillou, the schedule for a trip I made a month ago. They are things that don't fit into my folder system precisely because they aren't that important but maybe were a bit immediate (or, like the journal article, I know that if I stored it I would really never read it. Next step, if it's kind of important, is to print it and let it litter my actual desktop.)
Meanwhile, I have just over 4000 work files sorted in 348 folders and subfolders. (That's not including some 25GB of work related images which I have on a spare harddrive, also sorted meticulously by folder and subfolders, since the folder system includes important source information (duplicated in the first image of each set, but less accessible). When I work, I rarely touch my computer desktop, just like I rarely touch my actual desktop.
Of course, I also work with multiple windows open, which I have seen referred to in a derogatory way in techie humour, but just shows ignorance of the necessity of other forms of work; my data-entry, for example, takes place in 3 files in quick succession, requires a fourth for reference and another program to display the source image for the data, while my writing requires constant reference to source files. It's just completely inefficient to be constantly openning and closing spreadsheets and word processor documents while working with them - it would be like putting a book back on the shelf when you know you will be looking up a reference in it soon. So you do what everyone does, and leave them open on your desk/taskbar.
posted by jb at 8:36 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
I.e. 90% of the population. Look at any non-techie's desktop and you'll find a jumble of unrelated files. They don't know anything about making folders or sorting files. This would help them immensely. If someone else installed it for them.
posted by DU at 10:16 AM on April 8
Just because people's desktops are messy doesn't mean we aren't using our computers for work, or don't have other files elsewhere that we are using for work, or that we don't know how to install our own programs.
My computer desktop is completely littered with icons. But why are they there? Because they aren't very important. They are files I've downloaded and already installed, a journal article I kind of mean to read but haven't gotten around to, the floor plan made a year ago when we were arranging furniture, a recipe for pease pillou, the schedule for a trip I made a month ago. They are things that don't fit into my folder system precisely because they aren't that important but maybe were a bit immediate (or, like the journal article, I know that if I stored it I would really never read it. Next step, if it's kind of important, is to print it and let it litter my actual desktop.)
Meanwhile, I have just over 4000 work files sorted in 348 folders and subfolders. (That's not including some 25GB of work related images which I have on a spare harddrive, also sorted meticulously by folder and subfolders, since the folder system includes important source information (duplicated in the first image of each set, but less accessible). When I work, I rarely touch my computer desktop, just like I rarely touch my actual desktop.
Of course, I also work with multiple windows open, which I have seen referred to in a derogatory way in techie humour, but just shows ignorance of the necessity of other forms of work; my data-entry, for example, takes place in 3 files in quick succession, requires a fourth for reference and another program to display the source image for the data, while my writing requires constant reference to source files. It's just completely inefficient to be constantly openning and closing spreadsheets and word processor documents while working with them - it would be like putting a book back on the shelf when you know you will be looking up a reference in it soon. So you do what everyone does, and leave them open on your desk/taskbar.
posted by jb at 8:36 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
How is this not just a straight repost of the last post on BumpTop?
Anyway Anand is a pretty cool guy and I hope this goes places for him. Anand, call me when you're in the valley. We'll do lunch.
BumpTop was one of the good-ideas-maybe-startups that started Toronto's DemoCamp scene. Its commercial prospects are questionable, but if anyone can make this thing go it's Anand. He works pretty hard on it, both as a product and as a business.
posted by GuyZero at 8:36 AM on April 8, 2009
Anyway Anand is a pretty cool guy and I hope this goes places for him. Anand, call me when you're in the valley. We'll do lunch.
BumpTop was one of the good-ideas-maybe-startups that started Toronto's DemoCamp scene. Its commercial prospects are questionable, but if anyone can make this thing go it's Anand. He works pretty hard on it, both as a product and as a business.
posted by GuyZero at 8:36 AM on April 8, 2009
Queensberry Rule #2: No hugging allowed.
This will not stand!
posted by blue_beetle at 9:50 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
This will not stand!
posted by blue_beetle at 9:50 AM on April 8, 2009 [2 favorites]
Oh, it's a new release. You could have mentioned that. facebook integration, etc is all new versus his previous version.
posted by GuyZero at 9:58 AM on April 8, 2009
posted by GuyZero at 9:58 AM on April 8, 2009
I really don't understand what the value is in modeling a desk in my computer which sits on my desk. The author seems to understand the generalized, flexible interface of a physical desk, yet misses the factor that makes it work. I interact with my desk using 10 fingers spread amongst 2 hands on the ends of 2 arms. Not a mouse that returns x,y and a click state.
My GUI desktop is really just tempspace, and I put something on it knowing I'm going to do something with it shortly. Then when about a third of it is covered with icons, I throw 95% of it in the trash. It's just not a central facet of my computer use.
Stop trying to virtualize a physical metaphor and go help out with Quicksilver. That project does more for human/computer interaction than anything else I've seen in at least 5 years.
posted by butterstick at 10:29 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
My GUI desktop is really just tempspace, and I put something on it knowing I'm going to do something with it shortly. Then when about a third of it is covered with icons, I throw 95% of it in the trash. It's just not a central facet of my computer use.
Stop trying to virtualize a physical metaphor and go help out with Quicksilver. That project does more for human/computer interaction than anything else I've seen in at least 5 years.
posted by butterstick at 10:29 AM on April 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
My desktop is so simple, it's just a dot on the screen. And you can't move the dot.
posted by dirigibleman at 12:58 PM on April 8, 2009
posted by dirigibleman at 12:58 PM on April 8, 2009
Time between install and uninstall: 48 seconds.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 1:46 PM on April 8, 2009
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 1:46 PM on April 8, 2009
If my computer desktop resembled my actual desktop, it would have coffee rings and dust. I'm not sure physical reality is what I want modeled on my computer.
posted by chairface at 7:34 PM on April 9, 2009
posted by chairface at 7:34 PM on April 9, 2009
« Older ATM card skimmer removed and examined | Accountants have a sense of humor? Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by DU at 5:25 AM on April 8, 2009