Comments on: #3: The Extra Dimension

By: Shuttleworth from Ubuntu Gives Talk at CERN at JStorage

Shuttleworth from Ubuntu Gives Talk at CERN at JStorage — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:28:43 +0000

[...] #13 Pretty is a feature #12 Consistent Packaging #11 Simplified, rationalised licensing #10 Presence #9 Pervasive support #8 Govoritye po Russki? #007 Great gadgets #6 Sensory Immersion #5 Real real-time collaboration #4 Plan, execute, DELIVER #3 The Extra dimension #2 Granny’s new camera #1 Keeping it FREE [...]

By: amturnip

amturnip — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:57:52 +0000

Windows are easier for me to spot when they wobble upon arrival. Dialogs, especially. Good feature.

By: Lyceum

Lyceum — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:32:14 +0000

I have to say that I do find the 3D stuff very useful. I think the spinning boxes keep me organized, and the veiw with Alt Tab lets me know what program I am movving to. And the wobbly window, well they just make me smile.

By: NoWhereMan

NoWhereMan — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 16:12:31 +0000

I’ve got this new Packard Bell laptop bundled with Windows. I’ve just wiped it out and installed Ubuntu. I can’t still make my wireless card work, but that’s not really that big deal as I don’t really need wireless at the moment. What really piss me off is that my VIA Unichrome *has* a quite good (entry level, but who cares?) 3d acceleration but I still can’t make AIGLX work because the MESA driver lacks the maintainer. 3d is cool, yeah, but what about people that *could* have fancy graphics and can’t not because of poor or outdated hardware, but just because of lack of support?

By: christthi

christthi — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 03:38:40 +0000

Something that not enough developpers seem to neglect in the way distros are evolving these days is that distros are getting heavy an very unaccessible to the people who can’t afford the hottest PCs or Macs out there. So I think that a major challenge for the years to come is to make desktop environment that will be universal and accessible, rather than heavy on designs. Ubuntu has been doing quite well until now on this field, as Kubuntu is great for being a strong answer to Vi$ta for the people who are still on the fence between Microsoft and Linux, while Xubuntu does a good job at being usable for older computers (at least the ones from the Pentium 2 generation and above), and for Ubuntu, well, it can satisfy the needs of everyone who’s on an average-performance computer.

But there are growing concerns expressed in the Ubuntu community abotu the direction that a distro such as Xubuntu is taking. To me, Xubuntu can and should easily progress without being more hungry for RAM and 1ghz’s.

This is more than a technical question, but an environmental and social matter too. While Linux distros are free and made code that does not pollute anything, computers, on the other hand, are extremely harmful for the environment as rubbish. Meanwhile, it’s full of old PCs out there taht are still perfectly working, but have been discarded by people for being unusable with modern OS’s. With distros such as (K)Ubuntu, mandriva and openSUSE getting wonderfully refined and eye-candy, PC users continuously feel the urge of upgrading their machines, or changing them for latest generation of PCs.

On a global level, that makes a massive number of computer hardware being trashed (recycling, thanks heavens, is getting more and more mainstream, but parts are not as easy to recycle as complete computers are). On the other hand, that makes also a lot of financially disandvantaged people unable to use the most top-of-the-line software, while they could only use small and simple distros to run the computer they found in the dumpster!

This is why distros like Puppy, DSL or BLAG seem to be getting very popular. In the long run, with computer users more and more mobile (just look at the pen drive craze, and now the iPhone might generate a hype for mobile and Pocket PCs) the need’s gonna be there for something simple, elegant and tiny.

Think SMALL!

By: Jason Tokarz

Jason Tokarz — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:05:07 +0000

Regardless of usability, I think functionality such as ‘wobbly windows’ is a necessity on the Linux desktop.
Why?
Because first impressions count. If new users are to be attracted to Linux then we need our gimmick, something to grab the interest of a new user.
For the average user, arguments like “Linux is more stable” and “Linux does not have any problems with viruses and malware” don’t work because the average user has built a tolerance and crashing computers are just a fact of life and something they have learnt to accept.
Obviously there is still much work to be done beyond this but without it Linux may not get it’s foot in the door!

By: Harlin Seritt

Harlin Seritt — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:05:22 +0000

The green pool is leaking… I repeat…. the green pool is leaking…. shhh

By: watkin5

watkin5 — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:18:49 +0000

W.r.t. Beryl vs Compiz, there’s not a big difference at the moment, with the Beryl plugins being ported upstream to Compiz, when they’re stablish.
I’ve found Compiz to be more stable and faster the Beryl. The distros should go with compiz, so 3D desktops don’t get a bad reputation for eye candy over usability.

By: Esteban Barahona

Esteban Barahona — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 21:47:34 +0000

Hi,

Is the 3D desktop really necessary? User Interfaces haven’t changed much for many years, isn’t 3D effects the same ideas but on 3D? I never thought of a ui as a “desktop”, and honestly, using “desktop-inspired” elements everywhere isn’t always that direct and usable. Files? Carpets? Are users supposed to find this more “easy” to understand than plain ‘information’?

Nah, I’m passing the 3Desktop (not saying that 3D isn’t useful “inside apps”). But have already spent some time thinking of improving free interfaces: http://www.zensui.org/IxD // that’s my FOSS project; ZenSUI + Ubuntu = Zubuntu? jaja, I don’t know… maybe more like Java VM (but not ugly).

By: Mr Frosti

Mr Frosti — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 18:37:45 +0000

I think that malleability of a windowing environment might be the most significant advance in computing interfaces in a decade. We live in a world where technical limitations of yesterday still linger in our interfaces of today. The concept of the 3D application is something that is unrealized, and this is where that advancement will continue. People think spatially, breaking down th wall of rigid pseudo 3D environments will be remarkable.