There it is: The Vista 3.0 GUI from Sun

[willybNL]

So you probably know this: Looking Glass 3D interface...
but did you hear it's done now? 1.0 Stable has just been released.

Screenvideo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQ4Nza34ak

Screenshots:
http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/details.xml

https://lg3d-core.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html

Maybe something similar in OS X.6?

 

[SpaceMagic]

Hope not. Ugly as sin.

 

[pianoman]

looks interesting. i don't know how often i have the desire to spin my windows around but i suppose some people might have a reason for that. also, there's too much going on. if the goal is to keep it simple, they've failed as this makes it look more complicated.

i bet this requires a lot of RAM and VRAM.

 

[killmoms]

All this is is putting 3D where it doesn't belong. Adding 3D to a 2D display device is just adding obfuscation where there doesn't need to be any. When we have 3D display devices (holographic or whatever, you know, science-fiction type ****), THEN maybe a 3D interface will make sense. But I have yet to see a new UI that's really new. It's still the desktop, windows, menus, dialogs setup we've had, just with some pointless 3D flipping and crap added on. I'd argue that it doesn't make things eaiser to use—it makes them more difficult.

 

[willybNL]

All this is is putting 3D where it doesn't belong. Adding 3D to a 2D display device is just adding obfuscation where there doesn't need to be any. When we have 3D display devices (holographic or whatever, you know, science-fiction type ****), THEN maybe a 3D interface will make sense. But I have yet to see a new UI that's really new. It's still the desktop, windows, menus, dialogs setup we've had, just with some pointless 3D flipping and crap added on. I'd argue that it doesn't make things eaiser to use—it makes them more difficult.

So you downloaded it? Tryed it? Or just guessing.
If it's the last one: download it first, complain after trying That's something I at least learned after switching to OS X

 

[Diatribe]

I don't really see how this would be useful. Looks just like eye candy.

 

[Lixivial]

I still think simple, elegant interfaces are the way of the future. Microsoft's Media Center, Apple's Front Row, Expose, Time Machine, and iPod are all things that demonstrate this concept. Apple already toyed with this idea back in '97. It never was implemented, and I think there's a good reason. More info here.

3D adds a layer of complexity to the whole computer desktop metaphor, a layer that just isn't necessary as the 2D model isn't broken yet. Looking Glass is cool, but it's unnecessarily obtuse and in-your-face; although I will give it credit for not being too overboard, and actually being usable, and that's saying a lot, actually. Anyone remember this terrible demonstration?

 

[NJuul]

I like it. I am especially impressed with the way open windows turn sideways to reveal the desktop. Nice way to implement Exposé. I think something like this is the way OSX will go eventually, with an in-depth working space.
I'd love to try it out sometime, but that demonstration must require one heck of a machine. My poor mbp would probably suffer.

 

[killmoms]

I like it. I am especially impressed with the way open windows turn sideways to reveal the desktop. Nice way to implement Exposé. I think something like this is the way OSX will go eventually, with an in-depth working space.
I'd love to try it out sometime, but that demonstration must require one heck of a machine. My poor mbp would probably suffer.

Not really, all that could easily be accomplished with few modifications (if any) to Quartz Extreme and Core Image as they stand now (Core Animation in Leopard being helpful, probably). It's just kinda pointless. There's no reason to have the windows flip back to reveal the desktop instead of slide off as they do currently in Exposé—there's no advantage, in other words, it's just eye-candy. Most of OS X's "eye candy" as it stands now is to give visual feedback or cues about what's happening with the OS. The Genie effect helps users physically identify where their window is going, the sheets directly show the user which window they're attached to by "coming out" of them, etc.

 

[NJuul]

Not really, all that could easily be accomplished with few modifications (if any) to Quartz Extreme and Core Image as they stand now (Core Animation in Leopard being helpful, probably). It's just kinda pointless. There's no reason to have the windows flip back to reveal the desktop instead of slide off as they do currently in Exposé—there's no advantage, in other words, it's just eye-candy. Most of OS X's "eye candy" as it stands now is to give visual feedback or cues about what's happening with the OS. The Genie effect helps users physically identify where their window is going, the sheets directly show the user which window they're attached to by "coming out" of them, etc.

You could have two open windows taking up much less space, while you could still see what is written (or playing) in them. At the same time, you can be working on a document in the middle of the screen.
I would love to have more screen realestate on my laptop, and this would be a way to get it.

 

[clayj]

I think I just threw up a little.™

 

[benthewraith]

I think I just threw up a little.™

I think I just laughed a little.

 

[macOSX-tastic]

i know what you mean.....

someone posts something like this on the net, and XP users are blown away by the graphics which turn out to be useless in terms of productivity or getting simple tasks done. wheras OS X users can identify that it is indeed useless eye candy and dismiss it, not saying things much like an xp user would say:

OMG, dat iz TEH bestest fing in da wrld when wil it B releezedOMFGROFFLEiz der sum1 who got hax0r???!?!?! LMAOE!!!!111!11!!ONE1!1!ELEVEN11!!!!!!!11!!

yes, there was an excuse. yes, i used PC lingo.

S

 

[mkrishnan]

Yeah, I would have thought a 1.0 product would have more emphasis on usefulness and less on showing off... it has some nice things. I like their dock. The idea of depicting the status of programs by rotating the dock representations is a really simple, yet elegant idea. But mostly this is still eye candy to me....

 

[worriedmac]

I would like to see an interface such as this given use through a tablet laptop. That would be incredible. I'm thinking tap a window and it falls to the side, tap and hold to drag windows around the screen.