Extremely Cool GUI Stuff

[timswim78]

Novell has been demonstrating some of the capabilities of their new Linux (version 10), which incorporates XGL. Among other things, XGL brings some really fancy GUI stuff to the Linux desktop.

A google video sums up everything:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-199899523054020719&q=windows+vista

More detail can be found here:
http://www.novell.com/linux/xglrelease/

I searched to make sure that this was not a repost. If it is, then my apologies.

 

[OutThere]

Looks pretty cool...I see they created some unique and different things.

Never mind me though, I have a grudge against all Novell software. Why? Because it's terrible. I'm stuck using Groupwise every day, and Netware every few days. *barf*

 

[mad jew]

Nice. Of course, I think it crosses over that line from being functional to an inconvenience. Still, it's nice to see what's possible.

OSX still has the nicest blend of form and function IMO. Better than this and Vista.

 

[EricNau]

There are some cool features that we just might see in OS X some day; but other features, like mad jew said aren't exactly practical.

I like the windows that snap to screen edges or other windows.

 

[Peyton]

Wow, expose, I hope they aren't marketing that as a new feature. The cube thing was interesting, good for teenage boys who get checked on for doing their homework and are actually looking at porn

 

[ravenvii]

Wow, that looks cool. It's still got that "thrown together" feel that almost everything Linux has, not the smoothness of OS X. But I'd love to play around with it anyhow. Wonder if a ancient Riva TNT card can handle that? Probably not. Oh well.

 

[timswim78]

Wow, that looks cool. It's still got that "thrown together" feel that almost everything Linux has, not the smoothness of OS X. But I'd love to play around with it anyhow. Wonder if a ancient Riva TNT card can handle that? Probably not. Oh well.

From what I understand, this is very new stuff (like less than 6 months old). I'm hoping that other developers can work on it, to give it a more polished look.

Surprisingly, these demonstrations were done on pretty tame hardware. If I recall correctly, the system in the demonstration only had 256MB of RAM.

Anyone who has used multiple desktops can attest to how useful they are. Hopefully, Apple will include such a feature in 10.5.

 

[ethen]

i downloaded korrora, a live cd and test it on my pc, and damm it looks really cool and responsive

 

[Abstract]

That multiple desktop cube IS cool, and not a ripoff of anything.

Its just like having multiple desktops on other versions of Linux, and we all know how useful they can be. Too bad Apple didn't think of it first. They already had the cube transition for multiple users worked out. All they needed to do was to make it work for a single user with multiple desktops as well.

And how high was the geek factor when they played Star Wars and the Final Fantasy 7 sequel movie on the same desktop!

 

[mduser63]

That was a horrible video. it was so fast and shaky that I could barely tell what was going on. What I could make out looked interesting though.

 

[EricNau]

That was a horrible video. it was so fast and shaky that I could barely tell what was going on. What I could make out looked interesting though.

I think the video was playing faster than it should have. Every so often, the google video player will go crazy at about triple normal speed.

Look at the timer cock to see if it's playing at the right speed.

 

[ethen]

when you drag around the window it feels like gell and jello hahah

 

[kretzy]

when you drag around the window it feels like gell and jello hahah

I really liked the way that looked. As for the multiple desktops, they look awesome but not all that practical really. I don't really see the need for them unless it's for a different user.

 

[dornoforpyros]

definatly some neat ideas & effects there, but quite frankly I'm not sure I want my OS to be made of jello, the jelly bean buttons & scroll bars in OS X bug me enough.

 

[ethen]

yeah, i do understand why they want it to look cool, some people at linuxcult.com were saying it's cool and all, but it doesnt increase productivity, i mean i agree, looks is nice, but if it's taking more ram and procesisng power without any real benefit, kind a sucks imo. but agian, some people loves the eye candy

 

[cr2sh]

I think they're neat little effects.. makes the OS feel more life like. Like the magnify effect of the dock.. not really needed, but a cool feature that makes people looks twice.

I have to imagine mac will steal this too!

 

[plinden]

I really liked the way that looked. As for the multiple desktops, they look awesome but not all that practical really. I don't really see the need for them unless it's for a different user.

That's what I miss on my Core Duo iMac ... I like having one desktop for code development only, without any other distractions, and another for office/email/non-code-related web browsing, and another for non-work-related stuff.

I know there's a downloadable desktop manager for the Mac OS but I tried it and it doesn't work very well with Intel CPUs.

I couldn't quite make out how they switched desktops in that video, but it seemed to me (and I hope it's not true) that it involved some kind of click and drag.

 

[kretzy]

That's what I miss on my Core Duo iMac ... I like having one desktop for code development only, without any other distractions, and another for office/email/non-code-related web browsing, and another for non-work-related stuff.

I know there's a downloadable desktop manager for the Mac OS but I tried it and it doesn't work very well with Intel CPUs.

I couldn't quite make out how they switched desktops in that video, but it seemed to me (and I hope it's not true) that it involved some kind of click and drag.

Well that sounds practical, so I guess I can see how it could be useful.

It looked like some kind of click and drag method to me as well. This could perhaps get a bit messy unless it's only available on screen corners or something like that.

 

[timswim78]

That was a horrible video. it was so fast and shaky that I could barely tell what was going on. What I could make out looked interesting though.

I agree. You'd figure that they would want to release something that didn't look like a 6 year old was perating the camera.

 

[cr2sh]

I agree. You'd figure that they would want to release something that didn't look like a 6 year old was perating the camera.

If you look at the second like... they did.

http://cache.novell.com/cached/xglrelease/desktopspin.mpg

 

[howesey]

I like the windows that snap to screen edges or other windows.

RISCOS did this, about 15 years ago. Snap is nothing new.

 

[XNine]

A menubar and a task bar? Windows+Mac=Linux?

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

A lot of the stuff they demoed in that video would be really irritating in real life. The snapping would get annoying if you deal with lots of windows and the fluidity of the windows would be really irritating in my opinion. Nice ideas but a bit ott.

I often get that impression of any stuff that Linux devs do to be able to say 'hey, Linux can do what OS X can do plus loads more", hence why their stuff nearly always looks way over the top and too much.

I agree with OutThere though, Groupwise is simply aweful!

 

[dylan]

None of those features strike me as truly useful or innovative. The jello windows have been around for years in WindowsFX by Stardock. I've had multiple desktops with a cube animation and some other nicer ones for OS X (btw who wants to look at 2 desktops at 45 degrees?). Window transparency was around in the Windows 98 days. And tiled thumbnails *cough* Exposé *cough*.

I'm afraid the next big GUI innovation will come from Apple, again, with multi touch. Until then we'll just see more and more projects by people who just don't get it.

 

[DeeJay Dan]

Ubuntu a Linux distro which I've been *trying* to learn Linux on has the multi-destop thing. I really like it everything stays organized better. The default setup is 4 but you can expand it. I've never used more than 3. I'll normally start streamtuner (internet radio) and XXXS (media player) to another desktop so it doesn't clutter stuff.

You can also download something very similar to the cube app that's shown in the video it's called 3ddesk.

As a matter of fact that desktop looks almost exactly ubuntu...

Anyhow, I like Linux because it isn't windows if I could just get the install partitioner to work right I'd be happy. I'm on my third format and reinstall of XP this week.