Apple files 3D-interface patent

Patentards

<sigh> It amazes me how so many people can understand so little about the US patent system. Please, read carefully: These are patent APPLICATIONS that have been published. These patent applications HAVE NOT BEEN GRANTED A PATENT.

As part of the exploratory phase of the patent application process, the application will be published; ostensibly so that arguments of prior art can be heard before a patent is granted.

Another 'borrow' from PARC

I seem to remember Xerox PARC came out with something called 'Rooms' or 'Walls' in the early 90's. The interface was a block / wall of 'rooms' which you could switch between each with their own apps, data and other users. You could move files from room to room, dropping them on the desk or in a filing cabinet. Looked at it as a front end for a document management project but didn't go anywhere. Seems to have sunk without trace .... only to resurface at Apple just like that other ubiquitous graphical interface did.

Sorry, no icon, couldn't work out how to have both the horned Bill & the horned Steve at once.

@ AC 1h37

"[Linux] beauty is much hid from me."

## mode=Fanbuoy.Nerd ##

'Absolute control on everything' is one quality that springs to mind. Though any weird "I can code in assembly" would tell you that it's stretching the definitions of "absolute" and "everything" a bit (disclaimer: I can program in x86 ass-embly, I just choose not to for I don't need _that_level of control. and I discovered that my droidbattles tournaments were a serious handicap for my love life ;-) ).

But I wouldn't give back the ability to work simultaneously in several different graphical environment (each possibly running with the permissions of a different user, and some of them split into as many virtual desktops as I choose) while still messing with the deep innards of the system in a root console. On an cheap and relatively old laptop with less-than-impressing graphics muscle and a plain first-generation dual core Turion that struggles to cope with its factory-installed Vista - even with all the fancy things turned off.

Also, my most ressource-hungry jobs usually run 24x7 on old machines that I got for free -by litterally rescuing them from the dumpster- which is an interesting feature. As is the ability to carry my OS around (whith my preferred applications, my settings, and some data) on a 128 Mb usb stick. Life is simple when you can be fully operational with only a few tens of million flops and a very moderate amount of RAM.

Of course all this is also true for BSDs -FireFly took over my old DEC Alpha server, I keep Tru64 only for backup, flame to your heart's content-, and for some more obscure OSs I like to toy with (I do have a crush on the Oberon-based OS -BlueBottle or whatever it might be called now- initiated at ETH by the father of pascal and modula(s). Try it now!).

## /mode ##

Have a nice day!

Guten Tag AC137?

>What distos are hot at the mo'?

What distro are *not* hot at the mo? (appart from Ubuntu, of course)

>I take the point about revamping oldish hardware

Now think of it not as "revamping oldish hardware" but as "replacing your harware every 10 years instead of every 3 years" and look at the $ signs dancing before your eyes.

>but on a 30" screen linux seems like redressed Windows 3 to me

[I reckon we are only talking Desktop from now on]

egg-Jack-telly. Appart from the fact that your statement does not mean much (what with the miriad of distros, and more importantly, the miriad of graphical environments available?), most linux distros are developped by people who seek (and, sometimes, find) efficiency. This approach -usually- leads to very efficient work environments, potentially looking like crap (but efficient crap). Also, it the look doesn't please you, you can, well, you know, design your own. That said, it is possible, in the Linux world as everywhere else, to find bloated eyecandy GUIs (including several 3-D desktop environments). it is even possible to find graphical interfaces that put bloated symbolistic crappy-looking design before anything else (Ubuntu, I'm blandly staring at you now).

But the average user is hugely more efficient in front of an efficient specialized interface. It looking like crap is a plus: people tend to waste much less water and time when they have to shower with cold water than when they have a sauna and a jacuzzi. Replace "water" and "time" with "CPU cycles" and, err, "time". BOFH forever!

Of course the learning curve might seem steep, and when you will reach the ultimate "me and my computer think alike" monster nerd, your significant other will probably ditch you. But look at the bright side: by the time, if you're wise, you'll have installed a complete domotics system that allows you to control the doors and windows by blinking. The filthy harlot won't escape. MwahahahAHAHAHA.... sorry, what was I saying? Ah, just one little thing: don't appempt that if you are a genius of a filesystem developper but unable to do some cleaning. It most certainly will fail.