Few years ago I saw a video on YouTube which was demonstrating BumpTop UI of managing your Windows Desktop using physics based gestures & rules of real life like dragging & dropping, piling together etc. At that time It was just a concept demo but it is possible today in form of BumpTop which will run with .net runtime 3.5 SP1 on Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7. BumpTop is using OpenGL though which makes it possible to create a cross platform application. This UI is so useful in real life, it would be a crime not to release it for Linux based touch screen devices.
The philosophy of BumpTop is to make you manage your Windows Desktop the same way you manage a real life Desktop or Table on which you work. What do you do there??? You pile things on top of each other, put sticky notes, pictures, frames etc. You get a similar experience with BumpTop just that it is inside a computer. Here is how BumpTop looks like on my PC. I wish Yahoo Widgets would go flat on the floor of BumpTop.
A better picture of BumpTop found on Arstechnica
BumpTop from my point of view isn’t that useful when used on a PC with Mouse but is extremely useful when used on a Touchscreen Tablet PC. It just makes more sense there to use it.
Here is a Video of BumpTop running I found on YouTube. It really fluid & without any performance hits even on my PC.
I love this little gizmo, but my old Pentium 4 might not share the excitement.
Will give it a spin after I upgrade. (Hopefully by next month end) :rolleyes:
Is that a xbox controller I spy on you desktop? Cool…..
Where have I been???
This post is a couple of years old and I’ve never heard of BumpTop.
I totally agree with what you’re saying about the lack of evolution of the windows desktop and how it forces you into a very linear and rigid way of working.
I’m about to upgrade and need to give this a try…perhaps the last thing I need to convince my self to go with a tablet or power book.