Apple Acquires 18 'Axis-Based User Interface' Patents from Maya-Systems

[MacRumors]

Canadian firm Maya-Systems today announced that it has sold a group of 18 user interface patents to Apple. The patents appear to be related to Maya-Systems' work with axis-based interfaces in which documents and other files can be automatically grouped into timelines based on tags or other attributes and made accessible via the cloud.

Maya-Systems' technology offers an intuitive way to display any virtual content in a superior manner. This transaction attests that Maya-Systems axis-based user interface is ahead of the growing demand for axis-based user interfaces.

"We dealt with a significant number of sophisticated buyers," noted Mathieu Audet, founder of Maya-Systems and patent agent. "We are pleased to have secured the transaction with Apple." "Our patents have been analyzed thoroughly by many potential buyers. We are confident that they are strong assets."

Maya-Systems' key product is I am Organized, a platform for organizing, viewing, and sharing files.

IamOrganized's uniquely distinctive, patented feature is its axes-based interface. Intuitive and elegant, axes herald a new era in content management. They show and manage content more meaningfully than ever.

Unlike folder trees based on file location, axes group files by subject (any attribute, really) and display them along a timeline.
Scroll an axis to view more files. Zoom in. Zoom out. Navigate swiftly between projects by displaying several axes on your screen.

Attribute-based, orderly and relational, axes give users a meaningful and integrated view of their files.

It is not entirely clear exactly what aspect of Maya-Systems' patent portfolio Apple was interested in controlling, but Apple has been making a significant push into cloud-based document and file storage and sharing, including such features Documents in the Cloud and Photo Stream.

Article Link: Apple Acquires 18 'Axis-Based User Interface' Patents from Maya-Systems

[Baklava]

10.9, here we go.

[applefanDrew]

Originally Posted by Baklava

10.9, here we go.

More like 10.10 or 11.0. Depending on how they name stuff after this year.

[MacRumorUser]

Originally Posted by applefanDrew

More like 10.10 or 11.0. Depending on how they name stuff after this year.

Or maybe not at all. Remember the ZFS project.

[Peace]

A potential new coverflow view for the finder ?

[needfx]

dropbox still rules the cloud

[MacRumorUser]

So Adobe Bridge and Apple's coverflow have gotten into the sack and had some hot dirty GUI action.... [cue 70's porn music]

[LLIBSETAG]

Originally Posted by MacRumorUser

So Adobe Bridge and Apple's coverflow have gotten into the sack and had some hot dirty GUI action.... [cue 70's porn music]

"Brown chicken, brown cow..." repeat.

[FSMBP]

Originally Posted by needfx

dropbox still rules the cloud

And always will. iCloud is awful and Apple apparently thinks users are too stupid to understand "files" and "folders" even though the metaphor was fine 30 years ago. However, in iOS, users are forced to remember which apps holds they document they're looking for... Ex. did I save that PDF into iBook or into DropBox?

[jrswizzle]

Originally Posted by FSMBP

And always will. iCloud is awful and Apple apparently thinks users are too stupid to understand "files" and "folders" even though the metaphor was fine 30 years ago. However, in iOS, users are forced to remember which apps holds they document they're looking for... Ex. did I save that PDF into iBook or into DropBox?

I run across the same thing at work all the time on my Dell laptop.....

"Did I save that spreadsheet in 'folder X' or 'folder y'".

iCloud has always worked well for me for what I need it do - automatically save my pictures, settings and a 'snapshot' if you will of my phone (apps, arrangement, etc....), stream my music from, share photos through.....

PDF's are one thing, given I have a number of PDF apps, though all it requires is some forward thinking - i.e. save them all in one place (for me its iBooks, unless I want to annotate in an app like NoteTaker HD - but most documents, spreadsheets and powerpoints are saved in pages, numbers and keynote.....not hard to remember.

[FSMBP]

Originally Posted by jrswizzle

I run across the same thing at work all the time on my Dell laptop.....

"Did I save that spreadsheet in 'folder X' or 'folder y'".

iCloud has always worked well for me for what I need it do - automatically save my pictures, settings and a 'snapshot' if you will of my phone (apps, arrangement, etc....), stream my music from, share photos through.....

PDF's are one thing, given I have a number of PDF apps, though all it requires is some forward thinking - i.e. save them all in one place (for me its iBooks, unless I want to annotate in an app like NoteTaker HD - but most documents, spreadsheets and powerpoints are saved in pages, numbers and keynote.....not hard to remember.

Yeah, but you're the one making Folder X and Folder Y. If Folder X is "PDFs and Word Docs", then that's where you would save PDFs. You can have two or more apps creating the same type of files - which is what is annoying; you have to open up the app, wait for it to load, then see if it contains the document you're looking for.

I don't know about you, but if you had to wait 2 minutes to load Photoshop just to view a Photoshop document, I would switch operating systems. In OS X, I can just go to my "Pictures" folder and find my document and email it.

[roadbloc]

Originally Posted by jrswizzle

"Did I save that spreadsheet in 'folder X' or 'folder y'".

Run a search and find out. It takes .1 of a second on most modern OSs.

[Icaras]

Originally Posted by FSMBP

And always will. iCloud is awful and Apple apparently thinks users are too stupid to understand "files" and "folders" even though the metaphor was fine 30 years ago. However, in iOS, users are forced to remember which apps holds they document they're looking for... Ex. did I save that PDF into iBook or into DropBox?

30 years, yet some people still cannot grasp the concept of it or use it effectively. Ever see a person with a desktop full of icons? Great user-run file management there. I see this ALL the time at my office. Eventually for these people, it's going to be hell to find that file they were looking for. That's what I'm talking about.

Steve Jobs explained in either a keynote or one of the All Things Digital conferences: the learning curve for the average user goes way up once they hit the file system. And that's why Apple never implemented a user-run, traditional desktop file management system in iOS, and it's the right direction for iCloud still.

And I disagree that app driven file systems are more cumbersome. It's not in my opinion. A general user is going to remember more than he/she typed up that Pages document in Pages. The user is going to remember that he/she created that Garageband track in Garageband, etc. No need to drill down hierarchies of folders to find what you need.

But it isn't like Drop box is going away for power users that love to hang around forums and talk about this stuff. The choice is still there. But I strongly believe Apple was smart to simplify cloud services for the mass market. I doubt it would have reached this number of penetration if iCloud was just another Drop Box.

[FSMBP]

Originally Posted by Icaras

30 years, yet some people still cannot grasp the concept of it or use it effectively. Ever see a person with a desktop full of icons? Great user-run file management there. I see this ALL the time at my office. Eventually for these people, it's going to be hell to find that file they were looking for. That's what I'm talking about.

Steve Jobs explained in either a keynote or one of the All Things Digital conferences: the learning curve for the average user goes way up once they hit the file system. And that's why Apple never implemented a user-run, traditional desktop file management system in iOS, and it's the right direction for iCloud still.

And I disagree that app driven file systems are more cumbersome. It's not in my opinion. A general user is going to remember more than he/she typed up that Pages document in Pages. The user is going to remember that he/she created that Garageband track in Garageband, etc. No need to drill down hierarchies of folders to find what you need.

But it isn't like Drop box is going away for power users that love to hang around forums and talk about this stuff. The choice is still there. But I strongly believe Apple was smart to simplify cloud services for the mass market. I doubt it would have reached this number of penetration if iCloud was just another Drop Box.

When you have two different apps making the same document, you're telling me it is easier to have the user open up both apps just to find the document? Wouldn't a "smart folder" containing like documents be easier?

Clearly files/folders metaphor works or why does Apple include it in Pages? At some point, things need organized.

If you have a project that includes Pages documents and Excel documents, there is no way to overview your project with an app-based solution.

[Mr.damien]

Seems ugly, and the fact that they don't even put a single screenshot of their products in their videos seems to confirm this.

[whooleytoo]

Nuts! I was working on a time-based UI like this, where everything was plotted on horizontal tracks in a timeline (but not just files; also events, tasks and projects), grouped by tags/metadata. Even imagined pitching it to Apple one day - as if that ever would have happened.

Probably a good thing I was too busy/lazy to get it finished, or I'd have been sued out of existence because of these patents.

[andy721]

They copied this from Project Mercury. Trust me they didn't take long to do this.

PROOF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGdQqUhKD4

**** YOU APPLE **** YOU!

----------

You still brainwashed aren't you. Try doing research people.
Don't reply back because this whole apple and patent is getting quite annoying and people brainwashed will never learn.

Originally Posted by Digitalclips

I agree, there has to be a very fast and easy way to do this for sure or it simply won't get done. Aperture is a great example of how powerful it could be if only I tagged everything as I should. I rarely do. I was just thinking yesterday, if I could utilize Siri on my Mac when importing several hundred pictures to simply speak a group of tags to be applied I might actually do that.

----------



Sometimes genius is recognizing opportunity.

[Glassed Silver]

Originally Posted by FSMBP

And always will. iCloud is awful and Apple apparently thinks users are too stupid to understand "files" and "folders" even though the metaphor was fine 30 years ago. However, in iOS, users are forced to remember which apps holds they document they're looking for... Ex. did I save that PDF into iBook or into DropBox?

Preach it.

It's so horrible I dearly hope Jony Ive will do something against this mess.

Also, what's up with apps not being able to move files to others apps?
It's all copying copying copying.

Ever saved a movie from one app to another? I sure hope it's not a big movie file, because let's say you're on vacation and your iPhone is filling up.
You shot that awesome movie and it's in your camera roll and now you've got that 1GB sucker on there, but only 700MB free.

You want to edit that movie, but oh oh... can't be copied...

Probably a bad example, but you get the idea...

One more reason we need proper filesystems for flips sake. The sooner the better.
ZFS with de-duplication at least on our desktops.

I want so good under-the-hood and really needed innovation in OS X again.
I know they implemented some niceties, but really, is a proper filesystem that much to ask for?
If you want Apple, you can go start slacking for 5 or 10 years after giving me native, fully supported ZFS, I won't care because I will be a happy panda knowing all my digital life and memories, photos, family videos and diary entries just got a little more safe.
Mind you, a backup does not fix the need for checksum-based data integrity verification.

Anyways, I digress.

Glassed Silver:mac

[MacAztec]

Originally Posted by needfx

dropbox still rules the cloud

This comment makes me cringe. People use the word "Cloud" as if it refers only to offsite data storage. DropBox offers a sliver of the cloud (data storage).

They by NO MEANS rule the cloud. A "cloud" is defined as on-demand, self service, shared resource, resilient, multi tenant, quickly scaling up or down. I could offer fantastic offsite data storage and be not much different than DropBox.

The real rulers of the cloud are Amazon, Rackspace, Azure, etc...

[needfx]

Originally Posted by MacAztec

This comment makes me cringe. People use the word "Cloud" as if it refers only to offsite data storage. DropBox offers a sliver of the cloud (data storage).

They by NO MEANS rule the cloud. A "cloud" is defined as on-demand, self service, shared resource, resilient, multi tenant, quickly scaling up or down. I could offer fantastic offsite data storage and be not much different than DropBox.

The real rulers of the cloud are Amazon, Rackspace, Azure, etc...

ok, web based file storage facilities

----------

Originally Posted by nuckinfutz

Amazon Web Services would like to speak to you.

let them bring it!

----------

Originally Posted by FSMBP

And always will. iCloud is awful and Apple apparently thinks users are too stupid to understand "files" and "folders" even though the metaphor was fine 30 years ago. However, in iOS, users are forced to remember which apps holds they document they're looking for... Ex. did I save that PDF into iBook or into DropBox?

in dropbox we trust

[Thunderhawks]

Originally Posted by MacAztec

This comment makes me cringe. People use the word "Cloud" as if it refers only to offsite data storage. DropBox offers a sliver of the cloud (data storage).

They by NO MEANS rule the cloud. A "cloud" is defined as on-demand, self service, shared resource, resilient, multi tenant, quickly scaling up or down. I could offer fantastic offsite data storage and be not much different than DropBox.

The real rulers of the cloud are Amazon, Rackspace, Azure, etc...

Since people use "Cloud" as if it refers to only offsite storage that is what it is to them. The rest of your definition is unimportant to them.

They are just interested in using it.

Dropbox is easy to use and provides files on ones desktop, i.e. there is a comfort level in not having to trust (yet) that the "cloud" vanishes with all "my" information.

[needfx]

Originally Posted by Thunderhawks

Since people use "Cloud" as if it refers to only offsite storage that is what it is to them. The rest of your definition is unimportant to them.

They are just interested in using it.

Dropbox is easy to use and provides files on ones desktop, i.e. there is a comfort level in not having to trust (yet) that the "cloud" vanishes with all "my" information.

or having to upload/download files like box.com's service.

Horrible

[inkswamp]

Good god, what a truly terrible marketing video. I tuned out within about 20 seconds. It has all the typical annoying marketing video standbys (upbeat jazz, slick animation, buzzwords galore, etc.) but never once shows the freakin product in use. "IAmOrganized connects with the world and allows for easy storage, meaningful display and instant network creation." GAG! That means nothing--NOTHING--just empty marketing blather.

[Peace]

Originally Posted by Thunderhawks

Since people use "Cloud" as if it refers to only offsite storage that is what it is to them. The rest of your definition is unimportant to them.

They are just interested in using it.

Dropbox is easy to use and provides files on ones desktop, i.e. there is a comfort level in not having to trust (yet) that the "cloud" vanishes with all "my" information.

I don't use dropbox so correct me if i'm wrong. Isn't dropbox an application with it's own dedicated window ? In other words not part of the native Finder.

Now Imagine a dropbox concept that is integrated into the Finder window.

This is it.

[supercoolmanchu]

Originally Posted by MacAztec

This comment makes me cringe. People use the word "Cloud" as if it refers only to offsite data storage. DropBox offers a sliver of the cloud (data storage).

They by NO MEANS rule the cloud. A "cloud" is defined as on-demand, self service, shared resource, resilient, multi tenant, quickly scaling up or down. I could offer fantastic offsite data storage and be not much different than DropBox.

You mean a "server"?

This "cloud" terminology is merely a metaphor for the general public to explain 'not on your local computer, somewhere on someone else's server'.

But you are correct about Dropbox, they by no means rule the server business... just a relatively well designed consumer-grade, kiddy toy by comparison. But you'll see it championed as the be-all-end-all because they give out a free GB peanuts to all the chimps at the zoo. For example, A3 crushes Dropbox, but you gotta pay for it, a detail not popular with members of the new KKK (Kollectivist Klown Kollective).

iCloud doesn't do everything MobileMe/iTools did. Personally I think for what it does, it does it way better. In addition, unless you're a 6-fingered noob, it's also totally easy to set up and sync for iDevices. I think the most valuable part of Apple's strategy was enabling iCloud to be a primary set-up and sync method for iDevices. If you want to attract new users (which they seem to be pretty good at), helps if you don't have support a ton of legacy platforms and hardware to get your fancy new device happening. That's big shift to try and spearhead, I think you'll see Apple pushing further into the more sophisticated services when they build out more data-center capacity.

Remember to remind whining babies moaning about iCloud, that it takes a local server cluster to make any of their petty feature wishes a reality across all of Apple's sizable user base.