Don’t Take That Desktop Metaphor Too Far
Download Squad has these videos of user interfaces that take the desktop metaphor we use in Windows a little further (and possibly too far). The first video shows an actual interface you can download, called Real Desktop, that turns your icons into 3D objects that can be dragged and flung around, but doesn’t seem to do a lot for increasing productivity or organization.
The second is more of a clever demonstration in which your documents, music photos, email and other programs are rendered as they would be on a desk, as a notebook, CD case, photo album, and letters, and require the users to drag a CD to the music player, photographs into letter envelopes, and so on. Looks cool, but at least forty steps away from being usable.
All this reminds me of Microsoft Bob. I’ve been trying to write an article about Bob for days now, after a discussion with a Microsoftie about the much-maligned software, but I can’t get the damn thing to install under Vista. If anyone’s had any luck, drop me a line.
