Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

so, slap a webserver at the bottom, stack some php and databases in there, then let the users mashup the interface as much as they like?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

I wasn't really thinking of mashups, more from the viewpoint of a graphic/useraction designer.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

well i have to say that i have held a interest in allowing the user to restructure a gui and even bring multiple apps into the same gui for some time.

even more so if one could do it across a network or maybe usb, as then each device could run its own app and get a central gui to manage them all. bye bye driver issues...

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

technically whats being discussed here already exists

haven't all the main players (mac/vista/igoogle even hildon etc) now got widgets and things that you can use to mashup your desktop interface in custom ways using data from random sparse sources?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

not to my knowledge and not without having to break out a compiler...

or are you referring to stuff like the vista sidebar?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

yes,
goto http://www.google.com/ig and customise your own window.
You or I might not have the mojo to design the themes for the apps, but others have.
theres a wide assortment of apps with totally different interfaces which talk to the same data.

all configurable by yourself

for instance: http://www.google.com/ig/directory?q=clock

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

~and~

Ummm... Hmmm... Maybe. No, not really. They all want to make money too. :p

-T.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Yeah -- and that's really cool (seriously) -- but I was referring to making that idea more like what's been discussed about 3D desktop spaces.

-T.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

heh, i dont fault them for wanting to make money as long as they allow the user to do strange things with the product after a sale (unlike some fruit we all know about).

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

And I was talking about that, but from a different angle - You can refer to the success (or the lack of it) of all the web based desktops. Opera speed dial (and clones) is just an entrance to the web, but how many want a desktop IN the pages they visit (especially if it is a 3D one). I can see the point of information sites and mashups like netvibes.com (i even designed a similar site), but a whole desktop? (brrr, I can stand only one :))