Still Working on "Piles" Interface?

MacRumors · Feb 8, 2007, 12:59 PM

MacNN reports on a new patent application published on February 8th, 2007 entitled "Method and apparatus for organizing information in a computer system" which appears to revive an idea known as "Piles" that was patented by Apple in 1994.

The new application linked is not actually assigned to Apple, but does share some of the inventors of the original patent.

The "Piles" feature inadvertently became the focus of many rumors when an early rumor report mis-identified the upcoming Expose feature as "Piles".

To refresh you, here is the description of the original concept of Piles:

Quote:

Apple holds a patent on this one. Developed by Gitta Salomon and her team close to a decade ago, a pile is a loose grouping of documents. Its visual representation is an overlay of all the documents within the pile, one on top of the other, rotated to varying degrees. In other words, a pile on the desktop looked just like a pile on your real desktop.
To view the documents within the pile, you clicked on the top of the pile and drew the mouse up the screen. As you did so, one document after another would appear as a thumbnail next to the pile. When you found the one you were looking for, you would release the mouse and the current document would open.

Piles, unlike today's folders, gave you a lot of hints as to their contents. You could judge the number of documents in the pile by its height. You could judge its composition very rapidly by pulling through it.

wrldwzrd89 · Feb 8, 2007, 01:03 PM

Hmm... I doubt this will make it into Leopard, but I suppose it's possible. I definitely think this will appear in Mac OS X 10.6 (or whatever Apple calls the Mac OS X release after Leopard).

Personally, I'm looking forward to this feature, as it sounds extremely useful.

Peace · Feb 8, 2007, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrldwzrd89

Hmm... I doubt this will make it into Leopard, but I suppose it's possible. I definitely think this will appear in Mac OS X 10.6 (or whatever Apple calls the Mac OS X release after Leopard).

Personally, I'm looking forward to this feature, as it sounds extremely useful.

OS 10.5 is Leopard
OS 10.6..dont think theres gonna be one
Piles would be best used in a touch screen environment.

wrldwzrd89 · 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

OS 10.5 is Leopard
OS 10.6..dont think theres gonna be one

Piles would be best used in a touch screen environment.

Interesting. So you think we'll see Mac OS 11 first? I could see that too.

Touch screens, you say? Sounds like a perfect application for Apple's Inkwell technology

rowanhall · Feb 8, 2007, 01:20 PM

reminds me of this forum article and youtube video on the below link...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=274312

can't say i'm convinced, though apple will probably do it with more panache!

if it is the same though... it sounds like apple has a patent infringement to check up on!

synth3tik · Feb 9, 2007, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rowanhall

reminds me of this forum article and youtube video on the below link...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=274312

can't say i'm convinced, though apple will probably do it with more panache!

if it is the same though... it sounds like apple has a patent infringement to check up on!

I was trying to think of wgere I saw that. Thanks

Peace · 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrldwzrd89

Touch screens, you say? Sounds like a perfect application for Apple's Inkwell technology

[edit] edited for my dumb response during my first cup of coffee [/edit]

BornAgainMac · Feb 8, 2007, 01:21 PM

It should have been name for Vista. Oh well.

spicyapple · Feb 8, 2007, 01:18 PM

...sounds like the stacking feature in Aperture.

mrthieme · Feb 8, 2007, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

OS 10.5 is Leopard
OS 10.6..dont think theres gonna be one
Piles would be best used in a touch screen environment.

I agree completely, touchscreen was the first thing I thought of too. After seeing the iphone in action, I'm very excited thinking about what the next generation of Mac hardware will consist of. This multitouch interface may very well be the next form of interaction with our computers. Piles sounds like a perfect fit for using your hands.

pmppk · Feb 8, 2007, 02:29 PM

Some other company already has a prototype of this interface (with video demos):

http://www.bumptop.com

thejadedmonkey · Feb 8, 2007, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

OS 10.6..dont think theres gonna be one

Could you elaborate on that Peace?

bousozoku · Feb 8, 2007, 02:41 PM

I've always considered that Exposé was based on Piles' technology. I thought that Spaces would be similar.

What people don't see is just as important as what they see.

twoodcc · Feb 8, 2007, 05:47 PM

this seems kinda cool. would be nice in Leopard, if it makes it

Luigi · Feb 8, 2007, 10:59 PM

http://www.pencomputing.com/Newton/lifestreams2.html

Lou G.

Peace · Feb 8, 2007, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Could you elaborate on that Peace?

Well it's just an opinion.Seems like OS 9 went to OS X when they implemented Next and Unix.I could be wrong.So with that in mind if they go to a completely NEW kernel utilizing touch screen GUI's and the ZFS filesystem it would be OS XI..

Just a "thought"

point665 · Feb 8, 2007, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

Well it's just an opinion.Seems like OS 9 went to OS X when they implemented Next and Unix.I could be wrong.So with that in mind if they go to a completely NEW kernel utilizing touch screen GUI's and the ZFS filesystem it would be OS XI..

Just a "thought"

Dont the later builds of Leopard have ZFS support?

KingofAwesome · 04:51 PM

That piles interface would be nice, but I agree that it's a major enough change to the UI to warrant a new version number.

I'm not an expert in version numbers and I don't feel like looking it up, but if you've got version A.B.C of something, the C releases are mainly bugfixes (and I think the odd numbers are more optimizations?), the B releases would be minor updates, and the A releases are major updates.

Then again, version numbers get mangled a lot these days, because they use it for marketing as well.

burntoutjoy · Feb 8, 2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

OS 10.5 is Leopard
OS 10.6..dont think theres gonna be one

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrldwzrd89

Interesting. So you think we'll see Mac OS 11 first? I could see that too.

One, who gives an expletive about version numbers, and two, what the hell are you basing your opinions on? We only know, with OS X (as opposed to 'Classic') that when we get a new major release, 0.1 gets added to the version number. There's no reason to suspect a version 11.

Peace · Feb 8, 2007, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burntoutjoy

One, who gives an expletive about version numbers, and two, what the hell are you basing your opinions on? We only know, with OS X (as opposed to 'Classic') that when we get a new major release, 0.1 gets added to the version number. There's no reason to suspect a version 11.

There's already apps in Leopard referred to as "Classic"

jbcaro · Feb 8, 2007, 04:02 PM

Things at the top of the 'Pile' are called 'Shingles' and things at the bottom are called 'Bunions'.

j

sexyfoolxx · Feb 8, 2007, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

There's already apps in Leopard referred to as "Classic"

There's an environment that's referred to as classic, not apps.

Evangelion · Feb 13, 2007, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burntoutjoy

One, who gives an expletive about version numbers, and two, what the hell are you basing your opinions on? We only know, with OS X (as opposed to 'Classic') that when we get a new major release, 0.1 gets added to the version number. There's no reason to suspect a version 11.

Why are you so... hostile about this? It seems like the whole idea of 10.5 being last of OS X seems offensive to you.

As to "Who cares about version numbers".... Well, so far the changes to OS X have been pretty minor in a sense. Yes, functionality has increased and bugs have been squashed. But 10.0 and 10.4 have lots of similarities. If they move to a whole different GUI, whole different kernel and whole different usage-paradigm, whole different filesystem, it's more than reasonable to move to OS XI. It would be a completely new OS, with no guarantees of backwards-compatibility.

I, for one, am looking forward to it. I wouldn't be surpsised if we got OS XI in 1H 2009. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if we got OS X 10.6 instead

.

acearchie · Feb 13, 2007, 01:28 PM

Dont knwo about anyone else but I already have piles!

mrkramer · Feb 8, 2007, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

OS 10.5 is Leopard
OS 10.6..dont think theres gonna be one
Piles would be best used in a touch screen environment.

Why don't you think that there will be a 10.6?

Feb 8, 2007, 01:03 PM	#2
wrldwzrd89 macrumors 601 Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Solon, OH	Hmm... I doubt this will make it into Leopard, but I suppose it's possible. I definitely think this will appear in Mac OS X 10.6 (or whatever Apple calls the Mac OS X release after Leopard). Personally, I'm looking forward to this feature, as it sounds extremely useful. __________________ Proud iMac and iPod touch owner Successfully upgraded iMac to 1TB HDD

Feb 8, 2007, 01:20 PM	#5
rowanhall macrumors member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland	reminds me of this forum article and youtube video on the below link... http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=274312 can't say i'm convinced, though apple will probably do it with more panache! if it is the same though... it sounds like apple has a patent infringement to check up on! __________________ 20" iMac G5 1.8GHz (revA), 2gb RAM, 160Gb HDD, Superdrive, Bluetooth, Airport Extreme, 10.5.5 daily MacRumours lurker since March '04

Feb 8, 2007, 05:47 PM	#14
twoodcc macrumors 603 Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Right side of wrong	this seems kinda cool. would be nice in Leopard, if it makes it __________________ tville pump Smarter than the average bear

Feb 8, 2007, 10:59 PM	#15
Luigi macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Waltham MA	Anyone remeber this from the Apple Newton days http://www.pencomputing.com/Newton/lifestreams2.html Lou G.

Feb 8, 2007, 04:49 PM	#18
KingofAwesome macrumors regular Join Date: Feb 2007	That piles interface would be nice, but I agree that it's a major enough change to the UI to warrant a new version number. I'm not an expert in version numbers and I don't feel like looking it up, but if you've got version A.B.C of something, the C releases are mainly bugfixes (and I think the odd numbers are more optimizations?), the B releases would be minor updates, and the A releases are major updates. Then again, version numbers get mangled a lot these days, because they use it for marketing as well. Last edited by KingofAwesome : Feb 8, 2007 at 04:51 PM. Reason: I forgot how to spell temporarily

Feb 8, 2007, 01:21 PM	#8
BornAgainMac macrumors 68030 Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Florida Resident	It should have been name for Vista. Oh well.

Feb 8, 2007, 01:18 PM	#9
spicyapple macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jul 2006	...sounds like the stacking feature in Aperture.

Feb 8, 2007, 02:29 PM	#11
pmppk macrumors newbie Join Date: Oct 2003	Some other company already has a prototype of this interface (with video demos): http://www.bumptop.com

Feb 8, 2007, 02:41 PM	#13
bousozoku Retired (Moderator emeritus) Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Gone but not forgotten.	I've always considered that Exposé was based on Piles' technology. I thought that Spaces would be similar. What people don't see is just as important as what they see.

Feb 8, 2007, 04:02 PM	#21
jbcaro macrumors member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Milky Way	Things at the top of the 'Pile' are called 'Shingles' and things at the bottom are called 'Bunions'. j __________________ Mac Pro 2 x 2.66GHz DC Intel Xeon; 10GB Ram; 3-300GB SATA HD, 1-500GB SATA HD, OSX 10.5.4; 1-500GB ATA, Win XP Pro; 1-1TB Time Capsule; 1-500GB FW

Feb 13, 2007, 01:28 PM	#24
acearchie macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jan 2006	Dont knwo about anyone else but I already have piles!

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