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Something that Microsoft will obviously imitate, but not innovate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_gRmHpQ3nw

The most important thing about this for me would be ensuring that the perspective worked. The little divider line on the 3D dock irritates me no end.

Dec 11, 08 - 11:20 am Comment from: Macfabulous

@Bob - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_gRmHpQ3nw

Oh yes! This is how Microsoft invision the future of 3D

This looks like research Apple might have done, but cast aside because at a basic level, it just looks goofy. Then they patented it, just to get Microsoft to copy it for Vista 2015. Meanwhile, Apple will take their real 3D concept and deliver something with more WOW, something that Microsoft won't even see coming.

And all generated by a multi-core-threaded OS using the GPU as the fuel source.

Whaddayathink, Ballmer?

Dec 11, 08 - 11:59 am Comment from: loganson

This could be an alternative interface you could bring up like time machine, and dismiss when you need to.

Everyone likes to talk about a 3D interface but implementing it in a way that is more efficient that a 2D interface will be a big challenge. Maybe the transition will be more gradual, going from floating windows to a deeper 2D effect with other content becoming more blurred and out of focus.

This would actually reduce the usable size of the screen. The only way I see this being used is if the traditional 2D screen zooms out to what is depicted in the above diagrams by some kind of key short cut like (ctrl + ~).

I saw some in expensive 3d monitors, maybe we need a 3d Mouse also...

Hasn't this been done before?
http://www.infinite-3d.com/

Dec 11, 08 - 02:21 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

This could be a diabolical plot by Mr. Jobs to get the great imitator, MS, to bring back Bob in Windows 7.

Great eye candy, and it might be fun, but what will it add to usability and productivity? I think it will wait until really large screen territory becomes really cheap. I would not want my work viewing area decreased to accommodate all the extra interface elements.

Dec 11, 08 - 02:39 pm Comment from: Macintosher

As Spaces and Exposé have been really popular, I can see the logic in expanding that to a 3D interface. However, at present it would have to be optional and also would be a bad thing for a 13" MacBook, with very little screen that could be dedicated to this. Or, is Steve thinking that we should hook up to the Cinema Displays? But I can't afford one! Oh no! Never mind though... naturally there will be a solution.

Dec 11, 08 - 02:56 pm Comment from: Cubert

I would prefer a cube-shaped 3-D desktop.

Dec 11, 08 - 03:07 pm Comment from: Cubert

You could see a 3-D desktop coming with the changes to the Dock and the menu bar in Leopard and with the introduction of Time Machine. This is the logical next step.

The advantage of a 3-D desktop is increased screen real estate - not less as Berrylium suggests. Just look at the drawings in the Appleinsider article to see what I mean.

Dec 11, 08 - 03:12 pm Comment from: Crabs

I smell a fake, and Apple's just baiting Microsoft.

Dec 11, 08 - 03:17 pm Comment from: The Rev.

How many patent applications that have been seen here and other similar sites have ever made it to market?
My personal favorite was the screen with the camera in between the pixels.

IMO it's just a patent and probably won't be on any products anytime soon, or at least, not for the current interface of the Mac OS. You can't possibly have an interface where the menu bar is not at the top, because that would have Apple breaching its own human interface guidelines.

reminds me of the mApple clip where Steve Mobbs is doing a 3d thing with his safari windows.

Made me think of the look of the Time Machine app.

Dec 11, 08 - 06:32 pm Comment from: derekcurrie

As has been going on for over a decade now, the concept of the 3D GUI remains a work-in-progress.

I personally see no point in creating a 'room' to 'house' the GUI at all. All that floor, walls, ceiling stuff is doing is taking up desktop real estate. What's the good of that? There have been 3D GUIs from many years back that broke down the walls, so to speak, and 'thought outside the box' with very good results. One could zoom into the 3D space, zoom out, turn and look right, left, up, down to find things, a smooth variation on ye old virtual desktop technology.

Personally, I think the nifty stuff is going to be in bits and pieces. You can stack stuff up in a pile then pull out what you want in the pile. The pile can be moved around to be viewed from any angle. Or windows can be swung to the side or swung back into full view.

For me the ultimate is the Solar System metaphor with planets and moons giving you access to your personal universe. IMHO the modern Apple trackpad is ideal for this concept. But apparently that concept is still too freaky for most.

Keep bashing at it folks. It'll happen.

Bumptop

I remember an Apple called "Hot Sauce" quite a few years back. It was trippy.

This is bad. The menu should be at the top so that it becomes "infinitely wide". You can push the mouse far and you know that the cursor gets to menu and stays there. That's why System, Mac OS and Mac OS X keeps using that design.

Why can't they just make it the elevation just so and make the top of the back wall at the top of the screen?

Dec 11, 08 - 07:36 pm Comment from: Brau

Ugh. That's awful. The only thing missing is a VR glove with an Apple logo on it so Mac users can wave their arms about like a one-armed crab. Thankfully few of Apple's patent applications ever come to fruition in the form they are presented.

Putting a UI like this out on the market anytime soon would only serve to further alienate Apple products by hammering home the already false perception that "Macs are weird".

3D desktop has been done for years on Linux/Unix, like the concept of (work)Spaces. Apple just hone and perfect what others tried and failed. Hopefully the product looks better than the patent drawing and is actually useful unlike other 3D attempts. There is a reason people need huge or multiple screens. Squeezing skewed, unreadable windows on small screens makes no sense. I had thought Cover Flow is a nice model for flipping through active apps.

this is dumb. what does it being 3D add to the mix? we already have Spaces.

Actually, I think this interface as shown would be great if the bezel of a screen is deepened and smaller LCD panels form an actual floor and walls. It would be an enhancement for a "personal" workstation, giving an immersive feel, though not as much for viewing movies at a distance because the deep bezel may restrict viewing angles.

But certainly putting relatively smaller LCDs/LEDs on a deep bezel is not going to be expensive and you will have more screen real estate as the dock can move out to the bezel floor. And of course the bezel lcd/led can be turned off for the more traditional look.

Following up on my previous deep bezel idea, The "floating elements" on the walls and floor can also be generated on deep bezels using a reverse perspective distortion, like seen on ads on sports fields which are flat horizontal but appear on television to be "standing up" out of the ground.

Dec 12, 08 - 08:17 pm Comment from: PT

didn't apple steal, oops, I mean, be inspired by Xerox's work in the 70's at PARC?

With Usability Engineering becoming an increasingly big thing nowadays, and a large number of computer users with a similar skill set and interface expectation, then it should be unusual to see convergence in interfaces. So this whole notion of being the innovative forbear in UI design is a bit of a misnomer. It's an iterative process of hopefully, continual one-up-man-ship. 3d is nothing truly original. Hell games have had 3d interfaces since adam was a boy. Nevertheless, it looks like it could be nice, since it is more natural. Though, resisting the temptation to cram everything in (so it looks like your average CAD product) might be hard. Minimalism with cuing and preemptive, learning interfaces is something I'd like to see more of.

Apple paid xerox for the ui work that was done and being ignored. They also made huge changes to it. The ui you see in Lisa and later Macintosh is not what xerox had... try again loser.
Your next assignment... find out where dos came from, or perhaps windows 3.1...

Dec 13, 08 - 06:42 am Comment from: derekcurrie

We're OFF TOPIC, but to continue:

Thank you @pt.

There are some decent books on the history of Apple out there to read. You've always got Wikipedia.org here on the net as well. They have a reasonable short history of Apple. I wish folks would go do some homework and read up on their facts before making bizarro statements like 'didn't apple steal...' when that never happened and is boring old mythology and ignorance.

Another assignment:
- What company stole Apple's QuickTime code from one of their contracted developers?
- What was their response when Apple asked for the code back?
- What did they have to fork over to Apple in order to avoid a massive lawsuit?
- What was the big joke on these code stealing suckers that culminated the deal?

Because their is massive mythology around this particular issue, and because the answer to the last question oddly flew over most people's heads, I'll post some quick answers to the above in a few days.

Dec 14, 08 - 12:03 am Comment from: PT

The point being that you idiots rave on about how apple invented this and apple invented that with regard to the GUI -> no, they took, paid, whatevered, somebody's else's work and modified it. Hence the notion of an iterative process, morons. Just like OSX is a modified version of BSD, albeit it with massive changes. SO in conclusion, I suggest you last two pair of idiots get your head out of you butt and pay attention....

And what makes you paid even sadder: it was said tongue in cheek. My god are you naturally stupid or do you practice??

Dec 14, 08 - 12:07 am Comment from: PT

oop, correction pair...

and by the way, if you're too lame to put your own name on your posting then what sort of credence do you deserve? None. Guess you haven't learned how to spell moron. There you go, you now now how to spell the name of your species! M-O-R-O-N, just in case you forgot!

Dec 14, 08 - 01:31 am Comment from: derekcurrie

'PT' is apparently having a bad day, or is undergoing metamorphosis into a troll. In any case, BIG YAWN. Facts remain facts. RaNTiNg and killing the messenger changes nothing.

Ye olde sayings:

You can lead a troll to water but you cannot stop their stink.

There are none so blind as those who will not pull their head out of the mud.

The bigger the bluster the smaller the balls.

;-D

Dec 14, 08 - 01:44 am Comment from: derekcurrie

And now the answers to your homework assignment. Let us review the questions:

Question 1: What company stole Apple's QuickTime code from one of their contracted developers?

Answer: Microsoft

Question 2: What was their response when Apple asked for the code back?

Answer: "NO!"

Question 3: What did they have to fork over to Apple in order to avoid a massive lawsuit?

Answer: The total sum of money remains undisclosed by Apple or Microsoft. Publicly, MS had to buy $125 million in Apple stock and hold onto it for 5 years. They were non-voting certificates. Apple and Microsoft also signed an agreement to share one another's APIs for five years in order that one another's applications worked best on each other's OS platforms. Microsoft also made a contract to provide Office for Mac for another five years.

Question 4: What was the big joke on these code stealing suckers that culminated the deal?

Answer: At the following MacWorld, Steve Jobs presented Bill Gates via video. The joke was that Mr. Gates appeared on a big screen in front of the MacWorld audience, reminiscent of Apple's 1984 commercial in which BIG BROTHER was up on a massive screen ranting at the peons seated below. Laugh or cry, Mr. Gates had no idea the joke was being pulled on him. But he did notice booing in the audience when he appeared.