Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Tue 11th Mar 2003 19:00 UTC, submitted by Mike Janger
Mike Janger writes: "What is Open Croquet? Alan Kay (one of the inventors of Smalltalk, one of the fathers of object oriented programming, conceiver of the laptop computer, inventor of much of the modern windowing GUI, etc.) is working on it. But what IS it? Have you guys looked into it?" I downloaded its 90 MB late last night. It's an 'academic' project featuring a futuristic OS 3D environment running through the Squeak environment on Windows or Mac. It requires a supported 3D accelerator (however, it didn't work with my Voodoo5 in hardware mode so it was painfully slow).
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2D is the only way to go on a 2D surface (your monitor) whilst if you really want a 3D "environment" then it very probably wont look like a 1996 "3D Adventure Game" like many projects, including this one, try to make it look.
Think a holographic (or whatever it'll end up being) environment around the user. Maybe achieved with VR glasses that mix the picture in front of them with pictures of windows and things "floating" in mid-air. Kinda like http://desk3d.sourceforge.net/ is trying to achieve but with these workspaces flying "around" you and being constantly updated. Like virtual monitors.
First step towards the future desktop would be standard VR glasses with desktops being projected as 3D monitors around the user. Keyboard would become the main input device. This will probably not go into mainstream.
Second step would be to make these things wrap around reality in the sense that if you tilt your head, they would tilt the opposite way to seem as if you were sitting in a virtual office of some sort. Still no mainstream.
Third step for true 3D desktops would be, as mentioned above, mixing the reality with things floating mid-air. Maybe the whole "screen" could be a "virtual bubble" around the user on where the windows are projected. Also a part of this step would be detecting hand/limb movement to interact with these virtual desktops. Still, the cost of this setup and the VR glasses would keep most people out of this business. So no mainstream.
Step four: true neural linkup through neurocannulaes. Anything, anywhere, any way you wish. Rendered right in your mind. (Does anyone watch the anime series Hack Sign ;-)
Oh and yes, this is quite a crazy look at the future. I'm probably not very sane
Just my .02 euros.