Windows Longhorn Video (BLATANT RIP OFF OF MACOSX)

[OKComputer]

Care of As The Apple Turns (www.appleturns.com)


ftp://ftp.extremetech.com/pub/extremetech/news/winhec/WaveWindows.MOV

[dotcomlarry]

Well, I dunno about you, but when I drag my windows around in OS X, they don't fly around like that.

I don't see how any of this is a ripoff. I see it as a natural progression in software technology. Just because someone comes out with it after someone else, doesn't mean it's a "blatant rip off"

[edesignuk]

How pointless is that feature? Why would you want your windows to wave around like crazy when you're moving them? Just daft, trying to out-do OS X eye-candy, but in a very pointless way.

[Fukui]

Its a blatant ripoff because its almost exactly like the "genie effect" when minimizing windows in OS X, the only difference is that they're doing it when moving the window...

Besides, its just a tech demo anyway, thier (Gates) just trying to get steve flustered e.g "Hey, they stole my Genie effect! Fine we'll do one better..." Like, MorganX said in another thread, they gotta concentrate on the fundamentals more, get those totaly "done," this stuff is just a distraction.

I actually think most of the hard work, and time in L-Horn will be adding the Palladium and Database stuff...

[cubist]

Originally posted by Fukui
... I actually think most of the hard work, and time in L-Horn will be adding the Palladium and Database stuff...

Maybe not. Remember Cairo was supposed to have all those features too... it was all just FUD. Probably everything Microsoft is saying about Longhorn is just FUD too. They're a monopolist. Monopolies are all about enforcing and entrenching the status quo, holding back the pace of technological improvement. That is what Microsoft has been doing for the last 10 years.

Think for a moment: What operating system feature is present in XP that is a signficant advance over what was available in Windows NT 3.1? There aren't any! Oh, yes, the GUI's changed. That was changed 8 years ago in Windows 95.

[Foucault]

Ok that just looks stupid and retarded.

[Fukui]

Originally posted by cubist
Maybe not. Remember Cairo was supposed to have all those features too... it was all just FUD. Probably everything Microsoft is saying about Longhorn is just FUD too. They're a monopolist. Monopolies are all about enforcing and entrenching the status quo, holding back the pace of technological improvement. That is what Microsoft has been doing for the last 10 years.

Think for a moment: What operating system feature is present in XP that is a signficant advance over what was available in Windows NT 3.1? There aren't any! Oh, yes, the GUI's changed. That was changed 8 years ago in Windows 95.
Yea, thats true, but remember, at that time, Apple was a failling pretty badly, and Linux/BSD wasnt really a threat, at the time...I know this may turn out the same, but I wouldn't put it past them, to at lease add the Palladium stuff, cause thats what gates thinks is gonna make Windows into a media delivery powerhouse, so at least IMHO Palladium is gonna take a lot of time to work out.

You know, when I think about off-loading security to the hardware, there is just one prob, what happens when an exploit/hole is found in the HW...how do you fix that??? Replace the CPU or what?? Look at the hacked-to-death xBox for example...

[MorganX]

>>They're a monopolist. Monopolies are all about enforcing and entrenching the status quo, holding back the pace of technological improvement. That is what Microsoft has been doing for the last 10 years.<<

They'are a monopolist and Bill Clinton got impeached.... They are also a bureacracy which is what has held them back for the past couple years IMO.

But mostly, Microsoft has been held back in the past because they had to protect the legacy applications and investments of corporate America. They could just say, OK rewrite all of your 16-bit code. We have a new 32-bit OS and are going to break everything. Simply not possible and one of the reasons the X86 platforms has flourished. Backwards compatibility, investment protection. Yes, they have problems related to being a monopoly and nowadays very boring. But having lived through the DOS to Windows transition a lot of good engineers did a lot of good work. Engineers from all over including Apple. You know, one of the things Microsoft still has that their competition lacks is vision. Wordperfect, Lotus, all decided not to make Windows versions until it was too late. They felt the same way about Windows as the did about the Mac.


>>Think for a moment: What operating system feature is present in XP that is a signficant advance over what was available in Windows NT 3.1?<<

Uhh, plug and play across the most diverse personal computing platform there is. One in which they control none of the hardware. That's just scratching the surface. We can not like Microsoft but let's be real.

[frozenstar]

I think that's a great feature. I think most of you are shunned by it simply because it's in Windows. Had Apple introduced that in Jaguar, everyone would be praising it.
Think about it... flying windows like that add more of a fluid feel to the operating system. That is what Apple has been focusing on, and understandably too. It brings your workspace closer to life. It's more natural. We're finally entering an era in which our technology adapts to us, instead of us adapting to our technology.
I, for one, would love to see that in an upcoming version of X.

[Fukui]

Originally posted by MorganX
...most diverse personal computing platform there is. One in which they control none of the hardware.
For now anyways!!:D

[Fukui]

Originally posted by frozenstar
I think that's a great feature. I think most of you are shunned by it simply because it's in Windows. Had Apple introduced that in Jaguar, everyone would be praising it.
Uhh, no I wouldn't.

P.S Your sarcasm is showing.:)

[the future]

Folks, try to remember when Longhorn is supposed to come, it's 2005! That's TWO MORE YEARS! I cannot even begin to imagine how great OSX will be by then.

[Snowy_River]

Originally posted by frozenstar
I think that's a great feature. I think most of you are shunned by it simply because it's in Windows. Had Apple introduced that in Jaguar, everyone would be praising it.
Think about it... flying windows like that add more of a fluid feel to the operating system. That is what Apple has been focusing on, and understandably too. It brings your workspace closer to life. It's more natural. We're finally entering an era in which our technology adapts to us, instead of us adapting to our technology.
I, for one, would love to see that in an upcoming version of X.

I think that there is an important difference. This feature does have an 'ooo, aahh, oohh' aspect to it, but I see this as something that's far more likely to get in the way than being helpful. This adds a second to wait for the window to settle into place before I could continue to work in it, after I've moved it. The Genie effect, on the other hand, is used when getting something out of the way. Gripping hand is that this kind of effect really is what the future of GUI seems to be moving toward. Let's just hope that it's a little better implemented than this....

[frozenstar]

Originally posted by Snowy_River
I think that there is an important difference. This feature does have an 'ooo, aahh, oohh' aspect to it, but I see this as something that's far more likely to get in the way than being helpful. This adds a second to wait for the window to settle into place before I could continue to work in it, after I've moved it. The Genie effect, on the other hand, is used when getting something out of the way. Gripping hand is that this kind of effect really is what the future of GUI seems to be moving toward. Let's just hope that it's a little better implemented than this....

I agree. Implementation is everything. And in that respect, so far, Apple has bested Microsoft repeatedly.

[Moxiemike]

that's it. i'm switching to windows

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Freg3000]

It does look like genie, and is without a doubt pointless. It is just there to compete. I am sure Apple will have much beter ideas by 2005.

[beatle888]

oh my god :(
did you see how fluid that was? please apple give us power.

[ibookin']

Originally posted by beatle888
oh my god :(
did you see how fluid that was? please apple give us power.

Yeah, but look at how much CPU power it uses. It's probably running on a 3.06GHz PIV and it still puts CPU usage up to 50% or more. If they don't want this thing to be a huge performance hit, they need to offload that to the video card, like Quartz Extreme does.

That's just pointless. The genie effect is a nice way to get a visual indication of where your window is going, but that does pretty much nothing for the user.

[beatle888]

cpu usage? where do you see that?

[5300cs]

Oh my lord, how absolutely useless is that feature? That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen, what is the point?

This is following the tradition of windows: more crap, more useless eye-candy, same uselessness.

What kind of activation is this version going to have? Retinal scanning to get it to install or something?

NEXT--

[beatle888]

your missing the point. its the fact that the os is capable AND has the hardware to support such features. if you listen to the video you'll notice that the speaker says its just a CONCEPT, an EXAMPLE of what the os AND the hardware can do, might i add WITH FLUID MOTION much unlike the mac with its simpler effects.

for everyone to say this is silly and pointless is raising a flag saying 'i have my head in the sand'

[5300cs]

Originally posted by beatle888
your missing the point. its the fact that the os is capable AND has the hardware to support such features. if you listen to the video you'll notice that the speaker says its just a CONCEPT, an EXAMPLE of what the os AND the hardware can do, might i add WITH FLUID MOTION much unlike the mac with its simpler effects.

for everyone to say this is silly and pointless is raising a flag saying 'i have my head in the sand'

1. You have no idea what kind of hardware they are using .. and take a look at the process manager running, see that nice spike?

2. Switch to windows then, if you're so worried.

This an OS slated to come out in 2005 as someone has already said. OS X will more than match that, if not surpass it by then.

I don't care if my TiBook can't display flapping windows :rolleyes: it does what I want it to do, fast enough.

[iJon]

Originally posted by the future
Folks, try to remember when Longhorn is supposed to come, it's 2005! That's TWO MORE YEARS! I cannot even begin to imagine how great OSX will be by then.
and im pretty excited to see what microsoft brings to the table. windows xp is already a very excellent operating system. microsoft ahs been workign on a lot of things, especially load times which i really like. Longhorn got on my computer in about 15 minutes, i was amazed. if longhorn is cooler and as stable as xp i will probably buy it when it comes out.

iJon

[G4scott]

Originally posted by frozenstar
I, for one, would love to see that in an upcoming version of X.

It already is in OS X. All that the longhorn thing was is compositing window effects (or something like that) Quartz can do the same thing too, it's just that there is no practical need to, and Apple hasn't done it. I'm sure somebody could write a hack for Mac OS X to do that... Anyone up to the challenge?

[ibookin']

Originally posted by beatle888
cpu usage? where do you see that?

They're running the system monitor, it is one of the applications running in the background.

Probably doing it to show off that it only uses half the CPU to accomplish that effect.

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by beatle888
for everyone to say this is silly and pointless is raising a flag saying 'i have my head in the sand'

What are the non-silly and useful purposes of this feature, or the implications of the capabilities of this feature?

I guess it means they'll be able to steal Jaguar features come 2005, right? That's the only thing I see coming of it.

[mmmdreg]

well, courtesy of AmbitiousLemon.com (http://www.ambitiouslemon.com) , here are two more, plus the first one for good measure :)


- Wave Effect when moving Windows (http://www.ambitiouslemon.com/longhorn/wave.mov)
- Watching Star Wars in Windows Longhorn Media Player (http://www.ambitiouslemon.com/longhorn/starwars.mov)
- I am getting so dizzy right now... (http://www.ambitiouslemon.com/longhorn/dizzy.mov)

[coolbreeze]

Originally posted by mmmdreg
well, courtesy of AmbitiousLemon.com (http://www.ambitiouslemon.com) , here are two more, plus the first one for good measure :)
How on earth are the effects in the last two videos useful in any way whatsoever? Someone please explain what twirling windows and movies does for anyone (other than showboating)? I can see some kids sitting around eating Skittles and beef jerky saying "dude, look at how my GeForce 5 renders this ***** in Longhorn!!!"

Truly ridiculous.:rolleyes:

[F/reW/re]

This is just as stupid as minimaze gunieffect!

[beatle888]

Originally posted by pseudobrit
What are the non-silly and useful purposes of this feature, or the implications of the capabilities of this feature?

I guess it means they'll be able to steal Jaguar features come 2005, right? That's the only thing I see coming of it.


its called user interface, if you cant see the power then your...........never mind. but long horn doesnt seem to be crippling their system. osx, on its supported hardware would choke if it tried to do what ive seen in thouse long horn movies. this has nothing to do with copying a genie effect. its about the 3D layer thats being built into os's.

god, i shake my head when i read posts comparing this to anything in osx. sure apple was the first to make a window morph, but this is more about capability than an effect. this demonstration is about what the os is capable of.

and if you think that its a superfluous ability than your coming off as all those windows users that said the mac interface was silly and stupid..."all you need is DOS".

the mac platform cant push around pixels like that. we need more power if we want to stay afloat. oh and honestly, long horn "if stable" will be enough for any consumer, they wont be thinking osx anymore....to a consumer osx is about icandy and stability. my friend is far from being a windowz power user, and she said that xp pro was easy to set up her printer and scanner and she loves it. so lets see. windowz users have:

1. ease of use (if using xp pro?hey if it was easy for my friend, believe me fellow mac users, xp pro has ease of use)
2. icandy (with long horn)
3. power that rivals any os (think crippling hardware on the mac platform)
Stability, i bet osx with still win here.

i just think these movies show sings of the tough time apple has ahead of them.

[frozenstar]

Thank you, beatle888. You're one of the few users in this thread speaking objectively.
For a community that is supposed to be about "thinking different" and being "open minded", it's pretty sad how ignorant many of you become the moment your eyes catch glimpse of a Windows desktop.

Ouch. I can feel the lashes I'm gonna get for this post already.

[filipp]

Where have you seen ease of use in windows? I have been using windows for half-decade and I will tell you whats easy. Using apple-software is easy and natural. using windows software is not easy, it's boring. Totally boring, and it never works the way you think it will. There is no red line through the windows, every app does everything it's own way. On the other hand, all apps in OSX are greatly integrated in the OS and work much better with each other.

I have switched from windows for a month or two ago, and I have not regret my choise for one single second. Every time I see windows and all the crap coming from it, I bless god that I now dont need to see it so often.

There is no quality feeling in windows what's so ever, nothing is 100% in it, except for notepad or calculator maybe. All OSX application I usually use feel much more nice and intuitive. The only application that bugs me by quiting all the time is Word... and why am I not surprised...

Anyway, back to topic, my point is that sure, this shows that longhorn will have more desktop-graphics power than before, just like apples QE. But I dont care about it much since I know that they wont manage to do anything good out of it... They will probably make Media Player Extreme and let it play movies however you want it, but that's not the problem with windows. The problem is that windows is still built by programmers where Apple lets creative people make decisions and uses programmers to fulfill designers' ideas. And I love Apple for it.

my 2 cents
/ filipp

[beatle888]

good response, however my point is, a friend of mine that knows nothing about computers said XP PRO is easy to set up. shes not a power user. she writes papers and surfs the web yet she was able to set up her system and said that XP PRO makes her life easy and she loves it. SOOOOOoooooooooo to my point...a windowz XP PRO user that is totally satisfied. and she represents a huge part of the consumer market.

[Fukui]

Well, FWIW, I was totaly satisfied with Win98 until I saw Mac OS 9, and after Win200 was totaly satisfied with that, until I saw OS X...its all reletive.

People watching good quality broadcast on thier TV antenna are perfectly satisified...that is until they are given cable box!! Then try to take it away from them, they immidiately start talking about what a pain it is to set up the antenna get a good signal etc....even though just a few days earlier they were praising about how they were perfectly satiisfied....:D

[filipp]

That's true, beatle. I was reflecting from my point of view, which is power user =)

For me it's impossible to accomplish anything in XP when using default settings, I cant even get to find my damn files, because this freaking dog jumps around all the time. I have to switch everything to "advanced" to get anything done, otherwise file sharing, control panel, searching etc are completely unusable...

A funny thing I found in XP is when you seach your files, there is an selectable option where you can specify your file's size. The options there are Small, Medium, Large and "I dont remember"!!! This is just too funny :p What a useful feature, "yes, I know the filesize and want to specify it... wait, I dont remember it, damnit!" hahahahaha

All in all, windows is probably good enough for majority where users dont know much about computing and dont reflect much about the OS itself. But I juspect that more and more power users with some selfesteem will switch to Apple's solutions instead of being "insulted" by windows.

And just to bitch a bit more, all eyeCandy in XP just makes me sick, this blue ugly theme is just too much. And I dont think it's gonna get any better in Longhorn...

and dont forget, Longhorn is not coming out until in 2 years, and I dont think Apple is just gonna sit and roll thumbs all this time.

/ filipp

[beatle888]

i know, i dont understand microsoft. they have so much money. why cant they hire the best designers? well im glad they dont, it just makes osx look that much better. anyway, my friend was going on and on about how if she mouses over/or selects (i dont remember) a picture, she can see a preview of it off to the side and by the preview their are options like, do you want to print, email, open blah blah the file. she was tickled about that. i thought it was cool. she likes the way everything is fed to her. i believe this can be a huge advantage for windowz when it comes to the consumer market. supposedly long horn is being developed into an os that when you open a folder, depending on the item you have selected, the window presents task options...the look of the window is like a browser really. to me it would get in the way but for most consumers it holds your hand through the hole process. god i would hate that. i would be like, just give me the *********** picture damn it. anyway. i have faith in apple, but they need some of the microsoft market share to make it in the future, so apple needs to hurry cause eventually windowz will correct enough of their mistake to where consumers wont really care for an alternative.

[frozenstar]

Originally posted by beatle888
supposedly long horn is being developed into an os that when you open a folder, depending on the item you have selected, the window presents task options...the look of the window is like a browser really.

Windows XP has that now.

[Mr. Anderson]

Hahahaha! That has got to be one of the most useless things I've seen in a while....unbelievable.

Why would they even want to have that?

D

[me_94501]

It won't play for me!
Is anyone else having trouble playing it?

[OutThere]

think about how practical anything like that would be-you are watching a movie, talking to someone online, and surfing Macrumors;) and you decide to move the im window away from what you are doing, in the process it begins flopping around like a dead fish on the end of your mouse. This could be a hack for an OS considered SillyWare, ever see Gravite the OS 9 extension? Its funny but entirely useless. The genie effect looks cool but it doesn't mess up your work environment and it doesn't use 50% of your processor.


Edit: The last two movies show the most useless crap i have ever seen. What are you talking about it is amazing? It is exactly that Gravite extension I was talking about on a larger scale with better rendering. Does anyone care that you can have three copies of starwars spinning around on your desktop? And the destop of a super high end machine im sure (i wouldn't like to see what it would look like on a normal human's computer. Wow, look at my windows jumping around all nimbly bimbly on my desktop! How cool is that! Wow Yay I can't wait!:p Oh-wait! My movie just flew off my screen and got lost, better go find it!

[mmmdreg]

I like how OSX stops windows from going above the bottom of the menubar unlike windows.

[reflex]

Originally posted by edesignuk
How pointless is that feature? Why would you want your windows to wave around like crazy when you're moving them? Just daft, trying to out-do OS X eye-candy, but in a very pointless way.

Why would you want your windows to shrink like they do with the genie effect ? That's quite pointless as well.

[mmmdreg]

Originally posted by reflex
Why would you want your windows to shrink like they do with the genie effect ? That's quite pointless as well.
But then again, it actually looks alright. Dead fish don't.

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by beatle888
its called user interface, if you cant see the power then your...........never mind. but long horn doesnt seem to be crippling their system. osx, on its supported hardware would choke if it tried to do what ive seen in thouse long horn movies. this has nothing to do with copying a genie effect. its about the 3D layer thats being built into os's.

So they've got a powerful processor, so what? It's not the size, it's how you use it.

How does a "Wavy Browser Window," "Spinning Movies" and "Drunken Workstation Effect" show MS's innovation into creative, practical and elegant use of a 3D layer?

[benixau]

if they can do that then think what else they can do.

look - i develop in obj-c for osx.2 so i have an investment in osx (used to say i am mac biased)

that is a cool effect. WHO CARES IF IT IS USEFUL. how bout you turn on genie and shift-minimize .... that is so damn useless. BUT show it to someone and they think it is cool and want what ever let you do it.

That will make people want to get the next version of windows. I think they are showing that they can do cool stuff with movies too. Think how jobs showed us three or four QT windows whilst moving one around with no dropped frames? This is the same thing - no use, just showing off.

If it sells boxes - who cares? Welcome to muli-billion dollar business

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by benixau
that is a cool effect. WHO CARES IF IT IS USEFUL. how bout you turn on genie and shift-minimize .... that is so damn useless. BUT show it to someone and they think it is cool and want what ever let you do it.

I don't use genie effect. Regardless, it's still functional; you can see where the screen is running off to.

Think how jobs showed us three or four QT windows whilst moving one around with no dropped frames? This is the same thing - no use, just showing off.

Having more than one QT movie open and being able to move one around without dropping frames shows off the useful power of a Mac. Watching one QT movie is something we've all done. That a PowerMac can have four open and not drop the ball indicates the PM will not skip frames on video when you're multitasking.

It's demostrating a useful technology to show off the robustness of the hardware / rendering engine.

Contrast this to the MS demo, which is demonstrating useless technology to show off the robustness of the hardware / rendering engine.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by frozenstar
Thank you, beatle888. You're one of the few users in this thread speaking objectively.
For a community that is supposed to be about "thinking different" and being "open minded", it's pretty sad how ignorant many of you become the moment your eyes catch glimpse of a Windows desktop.

Ouch. I can feel the lashes I'm gonna get for this post already.

Quite true, this should be seen as a demonstration of a technology, not a feature. (How well I remember all the oohs and ahhs when Be demonstrated the ability to run movies in a rotating cube, not that anyone would ever want to do such a thing). OTOH, knowing Microsoft, you can count on them to use this technology to create some useless or downright annoying feature, because, well, that's what they do best.

[me_94501]

Originally posted by mmmdreg
well, courtesy of AmbitiousLemon.com (http://www.ambitiouslemon.com) , here are two more, plus the first one for good measure :)
Notice that it's doing all that without drop shadows.

And if you want to see blatanr ripoffs, see the attached photo from PC World. Notice what appears to be Aqua-esque pinstripes in the Display Preferences window.

[vniow]

Does anybody have the full size Quicktime videos from Extremetech?

I can't seen to get them downloaded...http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=252654

Thanx,

-V

[voicegy]

Ambitiouslemon, THANK YOU for putting those together to look at. The downloads were fast and amusing as all-get-out.

Look, I've always liked the Genie effect...it's simple, with just the right amount of "awe" and to the point. Click, it flies away to the dock. Go to the dock to go get it, it flies back up. That's the elegance and just the right amount of "oh neato" that I would expect from Apple...not to go over the top with The Flying Wallendas type of circus act I see in these Wronghorn demos.

It's typical...give 'em enough processor speed, and they'll use it up in useless crap. Give Apple enough processor speed, and it becomes subtle elegance. WHAT-ever. :rolleyes:

[billyboy]

Originally posted by IJ Reilly
Quite true, this should be seen as a demonstration of a technology, not a feature. (How well I remember all the oohs and ahhs when Be demonstrated the ability to run movies in a rotating cube, not that anyone would ever want to do such a thing). OTOH, knowing Microsoft, you can count on them to use this technology to create some useless or downright annoying feature, because, well, that's what they do best.

I guess criticising the capablility of Long horn to make you dizzy with screen effects is no different to criticising a Renault doing a 320mph sprint down the straight at Brands Hatch. Like what's the frigging point, my Clio is never going to do that sort of speed. The point is it looks great and the humble Clio could get somewhere close if the Renault boys got their hands on it and applied what they knew!

Fortunately the MS boys seem to have to undergo a design front-end labotamy after coming up with a piece of technical wizadry.

[DeusOmnis]

They can have the genie effect, i have it shut off.

[maradong]

without defending m$ in any way but have you noticed that this video is propably a fake ?
that kind of animation is a feature of movie maker.... just notice that.
wanted to share the knowledge.( dunno if knowledge is the right word, anyway :D )

[frozenstar]

Originally posted by maradong
without defending m$ in any way but have you noticed that this video is propably a fake ?
that kind of animation is a feature of movie maker.... just notice that.
wanted to share the knowledge.( dunno if knowledge is the right word, anyway :D )

It wasn't a video. It was a PC running an alpha version of Longhorn.

[beatle888]

who cares about the effect, i want the processor that pushes the software!!!
man i hope apple can catch up.

please note: that effect is a demonstration of what the software can do, no one ever said that they were going to incorporate that specific effect into the user experience.

the big issue here is that they have the software and the HARDWARE to run it.

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by beatle888
please note: that effect is a demonstration of what the software can do, no one ever said that they were going to incorporate that specific effect into the user experience.

Note that Schiller was peeved because their new graphics engine is suspiciously similar to Quartz.

So they've simply taken another great Apple innovation and stolen it, applied a faster processor to it and shown off their uglyass graphics design and effects that are worthless.

Impressive, I agree. But so is billyboy's Renault going supersonic. Doesn't mean the car will be able to get him to work everyday or carry his groceries.

Assume for one minute that Apple never fell behind [fell down?] in the MHz race. Wouldn't Apple's usage of this sort of power be MUCH more impressive, practical and elegant?

[Makosuke]

I think it's fair to say that the flapping window effect looks pretty cool. So does Genie (or Suck, which I prefer) in slow-mo.

Looks is the operative word here.

I'd love it if my Mac COULD do that, but I'd sure as hell never leave the feature on because it'd be tremendously annoying if I was ever trying to get something done. It is less useful than a minimize effect (which at least shows you something--where the object is going--with the eye candy), but I assume MS would let you turn it off, so it's really a wash.

The point of the demo (particuarly the stupid swimming window one) is to demonstrate what is possible when you make the interface a 3D composited layer using a 3D graphics card.

And the important thing is, Quartz, though not currently quite that full featured in its use of a 3D engine, can do that too, and it can do it now. Apple hasn't bothered yet, but I wouldn't be all that surprised if an extreme 3rd party hack could produce something like that, or will be able to soon.

Oh, and a word on XP--it's probably very easy to set up for a begining user. With the billions MS has, it'd better be. The more you know, the more you hate it, is the refrain I've heard from everyone I know--even not so advanced computer users. X, however, is tremendously easy to set up, and even easier to learn for a beginner--I've seen that at work many times. X, on the other hand, gets even more fun the more you know. And we've got at least two major OS revisions (counting 10.3) on the way before Longhorn is even scheduled to ship... and you know how punctual MS is about making ship dates.

Sorry, MS, I'll take power now, more power later, and a big ol' lack of Paladium et al, regardless of the cost.

[MacCoaster]

Those videos make me think of Minority Report. How cool would it be if we could just use our hands to move windows around on a desktop instead of pointing, clicking, dragging, letting go, etc.

Like others said, it's just trying to boast the powerfulness of the Longhorn 3D engine. They're trying to push the limits of today's hardware.

Quartz cannot do anything like that except genie/scale effect. But that's the only practical application of Quartz so far. But if you can prove you can do fluid motions exactly like those in videos in Mac OS X--as in other than genie/scale effects, please feel free to do so.

[djbombjack]

I have to say...

It does look pretty cool... but is ultimately useless as a productive feature.

It's like one of those third party apps you download, install, use for 2 days and then remove because it doesn't increase productivity.

Still the OS X influence is being felt...

[ilben77]

Originally posted by cubist
Maybe not. Remember Cairo was supposed to have all those features too... it was all just FUD. Probably everything Microsoft is saying about Longhorn is just FUD too. They're a monopolist. Monopolies are all about enforcing and entrenching the status quo, holding back the pace of technological improvement. That is what Microsoft has been doing for the last 10 years.

Think for a moment: What operating system feature is present in XP that is a signficant advance over what was available in Windows NT 3.1? There aren't any! Oh, yes, the GUI's changed. That was changed 8 years ago in Windows 95.

I worked for years on a NT 4.0 machine and it was one of the most stable os's for it's time. it rarely crashed on me. so don't go bashing NT. I could tell you stories of things i did on my dual processor NT machine 5 years ago that I could only dream of doing that on my mac, those days.

Just trie to be a little bit more objective people...

[Nermal]

Originally posted by frozenstar
It wasn't a video. It was a PC running an alpha version of Longhorn.

It's a .mov file, therefore it's a video. It's possible that the entire video file is faked, so that it looks like a PC running Longhorn.

[blogo]

Originally posted by coolbreeze
How on earth are the effects in the last two videos useful in any way whatsoever? Someone please explain what twirling windows and movies does for anyone (other than showboating)? I can see some kids sitting around eating Skittles and beef jerky saying "dude, look at how my GeForce 5 renders this ***** in Longhorn!!!"

Truly ridiculous.:rolleyes:

It was to show developers how you can take advantage of the longhorn graphics engine, it's not like its going to be a feayure in windows.

(oh, somebody allready wrote this, maby i should read trough the whole topic before posting)