No sour grapes for this new desktop metaphor

I like GUI interfaces. For me the commandline is something that is better left off in the arcane past of black screens and blinking cursors. That said I have also maintained that the desktop we utilize today - regardless of the operating system - is basically a dumb idea of pretty little icons placed around a flat screen that you can double click on the make something happen.

For me this is a total waste of what could be an incredible rich way to interact with our data. Into this useless void though comes a new project called Grape by Yann Le Coroller in France

While this might be only a concept as to what could a real user interactive desktop that doesn’t rely on some silly eye candy like a floating 3D cube to switch between virtual desktops that still perpetrate the same old tired iconic view and access.

Whether it be from interacting with photographs to working with data such as text files the idea is that you would be able to do everything from within the desktop rather than having to dig down though multiple layers of folders.

Flipping items to work on data related to them

This whole concept excites the hell out of me as it would bring the dying and for the most part a useless desktop metaphor into the present and provide a solid set of concepts on where we could take it in the future. I realize that this might only be a concept and generally most concepts never see the light of day in the real world but this is one that I wish would be built on.

Conversation Tags: software, desktop, files, folders, graphics

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kenlefeb 3 months ago 1 point
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By the way, I have my desktop icons hidden, and then I created a junction point in my Quick Launch folder to the Desktop folder, so everything on my desktop is accessible through my Quick Launch as a menu. That lets me just drag and drop stuff into my desktop where it seems to disappear, but can be accessed through the Quick Launch menu (which lives in my task bar, so I can get to it even when I have an application maximized).

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StevenHodson 3 months ago 1 point
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You could also create a new toolbar like the Quicklaunch and have it set to auto hide which gives you a whole new set of launch points for applications.

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kenlefeb 3 months ago 1 point
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Have you tried DesktopX by Stardock? That might get you some of what you're looking for.

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StevenHodson 3 months ago 1 point
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I have tried DesktopX off and on over the years right back to before it was bought up by Stardock. In general I like the idea of the program but I definitely have some issues with it.

Primarily in the beginning of the program's life desktop resolutions were pretty standard and multi-monitor setups weren't in the realm of the average user who might be thinking of trying out DesktopX. Now however with different resolutions and multi-monitor setups becoming the norm DesktopX is still in a great many cases resolution dependant which makes finding a suitable DesktopX theme that works on non-standard resolutions harder to find.

While there are some - and the number is growing - that are resolution independent they are still not that common.

The other big problem I have with not just DesktopX but also with WindowBlinds is that over half of them look like something that should never have made it past the recycle bin. The other factor as well is that while there are a lot of excellent themers out there the results of their efforts while artistically nice to look at don't translate to a working environment for those of us that find ourselves in front of a computer for 12+ hrs a day.

That all said I did grab a copy of the newest DesktopX before my Object Desktop account runs out this week to give it another shot along with trying out the demo of Talisman from Lighttek. At least this way I can say I did give it a fair try once more.

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54 /people/StevenHodson/ /people/StevenHodson/following/ http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

kenlefeb 3 months ago 1 point
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Yeah, I've never been happy with any of the pre-built themes for DesktopX... whenever I've used it, I've always ended up building one of my own from scratch.

I don't use it, primarily, because it's slows down my system and adds one more layer of instability to an operating system that already hangs/crashes too much! :)

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Rahsheen 3 months ago 1 point
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Ok, Steven. I'm confused. I thought you LIKED folders? :)

This is an awesome concept, though. Great article.

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Corvida 3 months ago 1 point
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Eye sex! :D

That's a really good concept though: "to do everything from within the desktop rather than having to dig down though multiple layers of folders." This is what the desktop should've been about from the get go. Folders should've been the option, not the necessity. I don't even show the icons on my desktop. For what? I never see it and I rarely use it.

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