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BumpTop: Nice for anything...but my Desktop
Merlin Mann | Jun 23 2006
BumpTop Prototype - HoneyBrown.ca Don't get me wrong -- like apparently everyone this week, I think the BumpTop demo is right purty. The little interface widgets are beautiful and functional, and the physics of the motion seem realistic. It looks lovely. But would I ever, in a million years, seek this out as a Desktop replacement? You bet your butt I wouldn't, and I'll tell you why (as well as what it would be great for). See, here's the thing: once your computer (and your related world, writ large) has excellent indexing, search, and access via something like Quicksilver, this kind of "physical" interface metaphor starts seeming quaint, if not downright exhausting. I guess I just never find myself shuffling and re-organizing large numbers of files in a way that isn't more than satisfactorily addressed with sorting, Smart Folders, icon views, and searching. I throw stuff into the most general piles I can stand, then let Quicksilver and Spotlight do all the heavy lifting. Maybe that's me, but this seems like a recipe for non-stop fiddling. Having said that I can imagine several situations where I'd personally want to toss items into piles and use functionality similar to BumpTop.
But as an interface to my file and folder system? Meh. The metaphor of personal computer as physical space has been strained beyond usefulness, in my opinion. It's the lack of physicality that affords such insane productivity for Quicksilver users. Everything is abstracted into nouns and verbs and I get to mash them up however I need to. I'm unconstrained by "here" and "there." Maybe I'm not who this would be targeted at, but I think I could be if it were applied to almost anything except my Desktop's contents. What do you think? 48 Comments
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![]() I totally agree that after...Submitted by Earl Moore (not verified) on June 23, 2006 - 10:17am.
I totally agree that after using a fully indexed computer (Quicksiler/Spotlight) it's hard to imagine going to any desktop that requires more then a couple of keystrokes to do things. But it is purty (definately a proper word here in North Carolina)! » POSTED IN:
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