I read on Slashdot this morning that Apple is working on a "3D desktop".
Indeed Apple have made a patent application for :
So where exactly is the innovation here? Moreover, why would you pay the price of a second-hand car in three years time to have a "groovy" 3D-desktop effect which has been available for years as GNU Beryl and now Compiz-Fusion?
Let's not forget Apple (AAPL) wants to make a profit just like their more maligned stable mate Microsoft and are just as aggressive in securing future cash-flows.
More broadly regarding the balance between being tech-savvy and how much you're prepared to pay for a service, it is easy to understand how Otago DHB could be defrauded $17million by their CIO and IT contractor. When those with oversight and risk management responsibility are toting Macs (or Vista) they are probably disposed to assuming IT services are "expensive". Of course they're expensive but not as expensive as they thought! Afterall, the Otago fraud went on for six years and apparently overcharged about three-fold, which demonstrates significant naivety in management and total absence of a mental rule-of-thumb for tech.
Back to the 3D desktop. If you're yet to see a basic "spinning-cube" 3D desktop then you'll be pleasantly surprised by how nifty it is. Look here and here.
Failing that you could have an aquarium or you could have this attractive setup where a spherical Earth organises four separate desktops. All for free here. Get your eleven year-old to show you how...
Indeed Apple have made a patent application for :
"A graphical user interface has a back surface disposed from viewing surface to define a depth, and one or more one or more side surfaces extend from the back surface to the viewing surface. An icon receptacle is disposed on one or more of the side surfaces, and one or more icons are disposed within the icon receptacle. The one or more icons correspond to one or more desktop items. "To me that sounds alot like a cube rendered in depth on a 2D screen. It doesn't sound like a haptic Minority Report or immersive Johnny Mnemonic style graphic user interface.
So where exactly is the innovation here? Moreover, why would you pay the price of a second-hand car in three years time to have a "groovy" 3D-desktop effect which has been available for years as GNU Beryl and now Compiz-Fusion?
Let's not forget Apple (AAPL) wants to make a profit just like their more maligned stable mate Microsoft and are just as aggressive in securing future cash-flows.
More broadly regarding the balance between being tech-savvy and how much you're prepared to pay for a service, it is easy to understand how Otago DHB could be defrauded $17million by their CIO and IT contractor. When those with oversight and risk management responsibility are toting Macs (or Vista) they are probably disposed to assuming IT services are "expensive". Of course they're expensive but not as expensive as they thought! Afterall, the Otago fraud went on for six years and apparently overcharged about three-fold, which demonstrates significant naivety in management and total absence of a mental rule-of-thumb for tech.
Back to the 3D desktop. If you're yet to see a basic "spinning-cube" 3D desktop then you'll be pleasantly surprised by how nifty it is. Look here and here.
Failing that you could have an aquarium or you could have this attractive setup where a spherical Earth organises four separate desktops. All for free here. Get your eleven year-old to show you how...
Greg, interesting about the 3D desktop. Talking about Johnny Mnemonic, or Minority Report, if you have a Mac (and I don't) you might dig FluidTunes as seen on Gizmodo. It allows you to navigate your iTunes library by waving your hands in the air in front of your Mac's iSight camera. It's FREE too.
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