Attack of the 3D Desktop

Matt Barton
2006-06-21
0 Up Down
Tags: 3d desktop, 3d mouse, gui

I guess it’s just natural that folks pondering the future of the GUI would turn to 3D spaces. After all, clearly 3D has played a dominant role in the most important software genre: videogames. However, past efforts towards the “3D Desktop” have seemed impractical. Nonetheless, I think BumpTop, which utilizes a tablet PC and pen tool, is on to something big. Watch the You Tube and see what you think.

I’ve been using a tablet PC for a year now, and have to admit that using the pen instead of a mouse has made certain tasks—particularly grading papers—a breeze.

As for bringing something like this to the desktop, I might offer Sandio’s 3D Mouse as an appropriate tool. At any rate, these are innovations that might eventually present a “killer app” for GNU, provided they actually worked out well in practice.

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This entry is (C) Copyright by its author, 2004-2008. Unless a different license is specified in the entry's body, the following license applies: "Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved and appropriate attribution information (author, original site, original URL) is included".

Biography

Matt Barton: Matt Barton is an English professor at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. He is an advocate of free software, wikis, and the Creative Commons. He also studies and writes about videogames and computing history. Matt also has blogs at Armchair Arcade, Gameology, and Kairosnews.