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Is Cover flow a student of XP folder preview?

clevin

clevin

macrumors G3
Original poster
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
I just realize how similar they are. of course you can argue the nice transition animation between two previews as well as better design, but the idea (one by one display a large thumbnail preview out of a bunch of files in the normal file manager) and window structure (left side panel is locations/userful links, right side is files and a big preview) are exactly the same!
wxp_rtm_home_017.gif


what do you think? copier?
 
First of all, Mac OS X has always had a sidebar. In the keynote Steve just had the sidebar expanded so you could see all the folders, drives, etc... more easily.

Secondly, the static view in XP looks nothing like cover flow on the Mac.
 
That kind of interface is hardly new to OS X or otherwise... iPhoto uses it, for example. It's been around for years in other photo programs, on websites, etc, etc, etc. So I'm going with "no."
 
I think it is a bit similar, but where XP's quick look is restricted to image files, Coverflow seems to expand to PDFs and co.
What about OSX and the quick preview of videos and audio? That's been there a while too. Seems like Coverflow is a combination of the 2 on a much grander platform.
 
Definitely copied from XP!

It looks "exactly the same", if you take the transitions and the design away.

XP and OS X are quite similar anyway, but somehow I feel much more comfortable in OS X and it somehow seems to work properly.

Let's start the flaming!
 
well, Im talking about
1. big preview+file list
2. in file manager

just like, multi-touch is NOT an innovation, but when put into a PHONE, it becomes an innovation for apple.

Also, Im sure not talking about exactly same, after 7 years, it would stupid to be sitting on exactly same old design.
 
clevin said:
just like, multi-touch is NOT an innovation, but when put into a PHONE, it becomes an innovation for apple.
Click to expand...

That's pretty inherent here... Coverflow itself isn't an innovation for Apple. It's a purchased technology. Now Apple is just plugging it into various places in the OS. In terms of Coverflow's innovation itself, it's innovation is in the look of the interface; everything else about it has been done many times before by many different programs and OSes, including but not limited to Windows.
 
Not really. Apple bought the rights to Cover Flow from Steel Skies who intended it to be used for scrolling album covers as it does in iTunes. Apple just reapplied it to be used in another way. In other words Apple didn't come up with the initial concept which is completely unrelated to Windows Explorer slide show view (or whatever it's called).

edit: looks like mkrishnan beat me to the point I was trying to get across.
 
fistful said:
Apple bought the rights to Cover Flow from Steel Skies
Click to expand...

huh, interesting to know.

but how about the idea of big preview+ file list in a file manager?don't you feel the similarity of the ideas?
 
clevin said:
huh, interesting to know.

but how about the idea of big preview+ file list in a file manager?don't you feel the similarity of the ideas?
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to say it's completely dissimilar but I don't think it is a copy of Windows implementation. If anything it is more inspired by Cover Flows implementation into iTunes and by extension the new Finder in general is obviously inspired by iTunes.
 
clevin said:
huh, interesting to know.

but how about the idea of big preview+ file list in a file manager?don't you feel the similarity of the ideas?
Click to expand...

I still have the original application.

I do see the similarity, which is weird because I can see myself using Coverflow in Finder where as in XP I never use that view, unless of course XP randomly chooses it for a folder I open but I quickly change out of that view.
 
xUKHCx said:
I can see myself using Coverflow in Finder where as in XP I never use that view, unless of course XP randomly chooses it for a folder I open but I quickly change out of that view.
Click to expand...

agree, I never use preview mode in XP neither, its not effective enough for me. I, however, not sure if leopard's big preview mode will be effective neither. But i guess I might have to try to find out someday.
 
coverflow, and XPs slideshow view are similar, but the ideas behind them are totally different. On top of that, in XP you have to move a slider on the bottom of the window and click on a file, vs. cover flow where you just use the slidebar to scroll through the previews of the files. apple did buy the tech from steel skies, which was a great investment. they implemented it the way it was originally marketed, for a music program to display cover art. naturally the people at apple thought, we have this great idea here that we had to pay for, so they thought, what else can we do with it, how can we use this investment to its fullest potential? it seems like a natural progression to me.
 
the similarity is definitely there. whether filmstrip view was an inspiration for the orginal coverflow developers or at apple with this latest implantation well never now. But filmstrip view as i recall was something quite few on here were wishing for as a feature in leopard. I would say they got that and some.

Bit suprised a thread about this took so long to pop up
 
Even as an old XP user I really like the new Cover Flow feature. Most people didn't see the potential and always argue, that it's only eye candy. But the combination of detailed list view and big previews is very usefull.

I miss the old filmstrip view in Vista a little bit. But with the details pane (meta data) there is no need in Vista for CoverFlow or filmstip view. Just choose very large icons and start browsing with all information under large previews :)

What I would ask all the power users on Mac OS X: didn't you miss features for fast sorting files in the new Finder or edit meta data very quickly?
 
clevin said:
agree, I never use preview mode in XP neither, its not effective enough for me. I, however, not sure if leopard's big preview mode will be effective neither. But i guess I might have to try to find out someday.
Click to expand...
Well, I hate that mode in XP, because you cannot skip from one file to another quickly. You either need to click on one of the icons on the bottom, which means you can only view very few of the items in your folder or you need to go forwards or backwards one by one from the preview sub-window. Coverflow is much more effective. I don't know whether Vista improved on this, but accusing Apple for copying this feature from XP is big stretch and I'd actually go so far as call it "disingenuous."
 
theBB said:
I don't know whether Vista improved on this, but accusing Apple for copying this feature from XP is big stretch and I'd actually go so far as call it "disingenuous."
Click to expand...

similarity in looks or functionality, constitues copy, at least according to SJ. :D, Im glad you disagree and think it disingeuous.

As for Vista, the big preview is removed (AFAIK, let me know if anybody find it to be still there :) ), and a detail bar is installed at the bottom of each file manager window, you can resize it to adjust the size of the preview you want.
 
clevin said:
As for Vista, the big preview is removed (AFAIK, let me know if anybody find it to be still there :) ), and a detail bar is installed at the bottom of each file manager window, you can resize it to adjust the size of the preview you want.
Click to expand...
A preview is still there, but it isn't a view mode anymore. Just show the "preview pane" (organize > layout) and you can resize the preview (now all documents are supported). It does make perfect sense for a widescreen system: choose the view mode u want + the preview pane + the details pane. Vistas Explorer is really very powerfull and also easier than XP's.
 
TiAdiMundo said:
A preview is still there, but it isn't a view mode anymore. Just show the "preview pane" (organize > layout) and you can resize the preview (now all documents are supported).
Click to expand...

wow, I didn't realize this, looks like it can replace ACDSee and Irfanview completely. lol, thanks for the info
 
clevin said:
wow, I didn't realize this, looks like it can replace ACDSee and Irfanview completely. lol, thanks for the info
Click to expand...

561456009_461f0f8349_o.jpg


And you can choose from all view modes on the left side. Very usefull is also, that in Vista the column headers (?) are always there for sorting files. (Did I mentioned, that you can edit the meta data? :cool: ) Also works for videos, documents, mails and so on
 
TiAdiMundo said:
561456009_461f0f8349_o.jpg


And you can choose from all view modes on the left side. Very usefull is also, that in Vista the column headers (?) are always there for sorting files. (Did I mentioned, that you can edit the meta data? :cool: ) Also works for videos, documents, mails and so on
Click to expand...
LOL, yes, I did noticed I can actually edit the meta file easily, very nice.
 
maxrobertson said:
The sidebar in Finder was inspired by the sidebar in iPhoto and iTunes, not Windows Explorer. The sidebar in Windows Explorer has an entirely different function.
Click to expand...

function is one part, windows structure design is another, Im not sure one can definitely say there was no inspiration between them. Inspiration, AFAIK, doesn't mean exact clone.
 
maxrobertson said:
The sidebar in Finder was inspired by the sidebar in iPhoto and iTunes, not Windows Explorer. The sidebar in Windows Explorer has an entirely different function.
Click to expand...

That's not completely true. The new Finder sidebar is inspired by the iTunes 7 sidebar, that's right but iTunes got it from Windows Media Player 11. Really. And the implementation of saved searches is inspired by Vista. It's also interesting to look at what the sidebar was in Vista beta 1 :) There must be a copy of this version floating around in Cupertino. And for the long story to recover history: the sidebar introduced with Panther was inspired by the open and save dialogs from Windows XP's explorer. So it is a very "inspiring" business, but thats good for all of us, isn't it?
 
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