360Desktop is a software that extends the Windows desktop into a panaromic desktop, with unlimited space. In addition, “it allows users to easily grab their favorite web content from across the web, and put it right on their expanded desktop”. Demo of 360Desktop in action.I had an email exchange with Evan Jones the founder/ceo and asked him if this software can be used with multiple monitors. Here is the response:
- 360 wallpaper displays and can be panned on “primary” monitor;
- Any web widgets and webpage widgets that a user creates, can be put anywhere on any of the monitors (any number);
- The application scroll on multi-monitor is disabled; (multi-monitor users typically want to place their applications on different monitors, not plan)
- For users that want the 360desktop to span multi-monitors, we support the “span” mode offered by many video cards, where the existing desktop area spans across two monitors rather than creating a new desktop space.
Please can someone explain to me why this has “unlimited” desktop space? It’s not as infinite as the term “unlimied” suggests. By the way, what’s the use of this? What is useful of having videos pinned to a wall of a building (with out any perspective correction, btw) or having frogs walking across the screen?
Indeed, this seems yet another gadget presented as a breakthrough that it isn’t…
JAL
“What is useful of having videos pinned to a wall of a building (with out any perspective correction, btw) or having frogs walking across the screen?”
Exactly the type of thing I have been wondering about Compiz. What do I need with a cube or raindrops on my screen?
I found the cube to be a nice visual clue of how multiple desktops work. The raindrops are pretty useless, I agree.
The Raindrops are just a demonstration of what is possible. The cube is getting close to be useful, since it gives some spatiality to the desktops.
Other compiz plugins are really extremely useful:
I use the fast zoom quite frequently and together with the contrast increase functions i would guess it is a dream to use for people with reduced eyesight.
The places and expose clones are a great to work with, i nearly stopped using the taskbar since i have those.
Different visual effects for closing and minimizing windows give a very subtle and pleasing cue if the app is closed or just iconified.
Get over the early demos and have an in depth look at what compiz does nowadays, it is far beyond being a toy these days.
at least compiz doesn’t have fecking ad banners…
It’s not about if it’s useful or not, it is about if people will buy it or not.
Well, if you add enough pictures together, I suppose you will have unlimited space for all it’s worth. Having said that, I am already bored with it watching half way through. So either I scroll for a mile to get my window or I click to get there straight — but clicking something in the taskbar brings me there without that application, too. It is a chocolate tea-pot.
I believe Gnome 3.0 will have Unlimited Workspace(s) feature…
Well, I don’t think that this will “revolutionize” the desktop (as Desktop 2.0 suggests), but it might be a nice toy for some people.
Personally, I think it takes too long to roam around your “unlimited” (haha) desktop. Always having to open that navigation bar and then sliding around seems very slowing down.
On the other hand, having mutliple desktops means that they are excluding each other somehow. On that desktop, everything belongs together, so you’re free to move around your windows just as you need them. That’s the only good thing that I can find about it. Still, I don’t think it might be very useful.
deary me…
Tried it but couldn’t get it to work on Vista 64-bit
…that’s not that much different from what we’ve been able to to for ages in, say, fvwm with multiple workspaces and a navigator.
Nowadays even with fancier tricks thanks to compiz and such.
I hope the real innovation in this thing is not supposed to be that you can open pieces of web pages and leave them on parts of the workspace you don’t normally see to avoid clutter… because that’s EXACTLY what I’ve been doing in the last 10 years on the various incarnations of X11 desktops/WMs.
Sure, for windows it’s a boon, but still…
It’s not even new for Windows. Active Desktop has provided this function since Internet Explorer 4 was released.
So even for Windows, web-desktop technology has been around for > 10 years.
A desktop is one of the most personal “space” in computing. Who on earth would put a desktop full of ads on to there PC?
The only thing I see is going for it is to implement it at internet cafes where ads can be displayed on the computer. But then again, once the user is using an application, the desktop will not be in sight.
This software absolutely useless when it comes to arranging application windows on the desktop that it provides. This 360Desktop is not designed with end user usability in mind.
It could be cool in W98 days.
Now it’s just another “revolution”.
Totally unimpressive and definitely not as cool as I thought it was going to be. I had a similar idea when I first saw compiz a few years back my idea had parallax scrolling for the backdrop every time you moved from desktop to desktop.
Who would ever use something as crappy as that? Inviting corporations to put ugly ads on your desktop? Completely useless.
.. or not. fvwm had no ads.
hahahhahah!
ahahahhaha!
wow… Just… wow..
I’ve suggested something like this more than a year ago to thebu Compiz folks, except that it was meant to work in two dimensions and be an infinite sliding desktop, with optional zoom out functionality and window physics (throwing them in zoom mode, with friction).
Instead, these clowns all focus on shit like their cube aquarium, snow and silly useless stuff like Freewins.
Maybe the release of 360Desktop will get them to implement something similar finally.