3 MA XIMUMPC OCTOBER 2004
Mac Designer Says: Death to the GUI!
All this talk about introducing 3D into Windows and Linux horrifi es
Jef Raskin. Designer of the original Macintosh, Raskin wants to do
away with the iconic (fi guratively and literally) personal computer
GUI that dates back to the very computer he helped create. “I think
windows were basically a mistake. It looks slick and seemed neat,
but now it’s a nuisance.”
His new concept, The Humane Environment (THE), eliminates
most of the graphical trappings of two decades of GUI theory infavor of moving through a 3D landscape that represents a user’s
fi le system. Filenames would be largely eschewed in favor of
database-driven searches (“Do you have to remember a URL to fi nd
something? Google indexes every word in everything!” he says.) His
vision is unlikely to cause reverberations at Microsoft, Apple, or the
KDE and GNOME interface teams any time soon, but Raskin says
he’s hopeful the concepts will soon appear in wearable computing
devices. For more information, browse to humane.sourceforge.net.Angling windows in a 3D space is an improvement
over minimizing them; the window takes up less
space, but you can still see what’s on it.How Will Longhorn’s
3D Interface Work?
How does any 3D interface work,
for that matter? We take a look
at 6 early experiments by Sun
and Microsoft that represent
the beginning of a new breed of
graphical user interfacesApple has been dabbling in simulated
3D desktop coochie-coo ever since the
introduction of OS X, but to date the
company’s implementation hasn’t extended
beyond mere window dressing. Right now,
the most encouraging projects in 3D-aware
desktops are Microsoft’s Avalon interface for
the Longhorn operating system, and Sun’s
Looking Glass, an interface layer for Linux
and Solaris machines that can be pounded
into Windows with the right rubber mallet.
We take an early look at each in order to gain
some insight into how the introduction of
the third dimension can and will affect our
computing experience at the OS level.Improved Alt-Tab selectors
One thing Sun and Microsoft agree on is
that we need a better way of selecting and
moving between multiple open windows.
Both Avalon and Looking Glass have their
own versions of an Alt-Tab selector that
displays a cascading, angled view of the
available windows and provides much
more information than a brief icon list can.
Using this display method allows Windows
to reside in the background yet remain
“glanceable.” Today’s 3D hardware makes
such tricks a snap. “[Microsoft] is fi nally
rendering the OS and all the windows
on the hardware [GPU], and I think that’s
phenomenal, and about time,” says Robert
McLaws, operator of LonghornBlogs.com.Using the backs and sides of open
windows
One of Sun’s most striking usages of 3D
in Looking Glass involves the designers’
attempts to stretch the boundaries of usable
space within the OS. Two concepts are being
explored: providing a “sticky pad” for notes
and/or application details, and displaying
user preferences on the back or side of
each open window. Rather than opening a
new preferences window, users can “fl ip”
the window around, make changes and
adjustments, and then fl ip
it back with the touch of the
mouse or keyboard. In a 3D
environment, windows will
have more surface area so
information such as a fi le
name or processing status
could even be stored on the
“side.” Ideally, this would
even apply to existing
applications that haven’t
been recoded.Dynamic wallpaper
It’s subtle, but signifi cant.
Looking Glass has already
done away with static
desktop wallpaper, allowing
a series of images, and even
panoramas, to be loaded and
panned through with mouse
clicks. Upload a panorama of
the Piazza San Marco in
Venice and you could be
working right in the center of it—without
being hassled by tourists and pigeons. This
feature is, of course, largely decorative, but
it does suggest possibilities for the future—
you could be surrounded by a 360 degree
virtual desktop with pictures of loved ones,
open documents, and a live video feed of
your cat, for example.Functional special effects
Microsoft has demonstrated loads of fancy
effects being considered for implementation
in Longhorn, but it’s still unknown exactly
what Avalon is expected to do. We know
you’ll probably be able to manipulate
application windows in a 3D space, possibly
pivoting them at will in any direction.
We also know you’ll probably be able tointroduce all kinds of wacky environmental
effects into this 3D space, from windows
that fl utter in the breeze (calling the users’
attention, perhaps, to an application error) or
even disappear behind a thick fog.
“They’re trying to make it smoother.
Things don’t just disappear, they fade in,
and they will be real objects on the desktop
that you can move around,” says Adam
Kinney, an online community manager
for Xamlon, a developer of Longhorn-
specifi c applications. When Maximum PCinterviewed Kinney, he told us that his most
recent Longhorn build (subject to change,
of course) introduced new documents
half-tilted into the background that turned
to gradually settle into a standard viewing
perspective.Vector-based graphics
The Longhorn desktop will be vector-based
rather than bitmap-based, meaning that as
resolution and zoom increase, everything
will look just as good, not blocky and
aliased. The vector approach will also
allow the creation of far slicker program
interfaces, because a vector drawing will
be easily exportable to a Longhorn-specifi c
program. “Today, a graphic designer goes
into Illustrator or Photoshop , [draws anWINDOWS LONGHORN