LinuxEdge has posted the videos of the presentation of Novell Desktop Linux 10 by Nat Friedman. "A preview of Novell Linux Desktop 10 was shown to an audience at the Solutions Linux conference this week. We have a selection of videos which display a variety of amazing effects through the use of XGL, including transparency, wobbling windows, a 3D cube for desktop switching, and a task switcher which displays a preview of windows."
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Member since:2005-07-06
1. AFAIK Vista will still be single desktop only, so no desktop switching let alone rotating cube desktop switching. I don't remember OS X having multiple desktops either.
I'm pretty sure that's because they just didn't make any demos that do it. That and it would most likely be trivial to add. The desktop is just a surface in DirectX, as are all the windows. The desktop itself is just a window. They could very easily rotate around the surface, and put multiple surfaces together to form a cube.
2. The wobbling, although weird and distracting, is original I think. It can be turned off.
Not at all. OS X had something similar (though a bit more simple) in 2001? And Longhorn demos had the exact same thing (wobbly windows) a few years ago.
3. Vista shows windows at an angle when cycling through them, XGL doesn't.
That's Flip3d. There is also just "Flip", which is pretty much the same thing as Novells.
Member since:2005-06-29
1. AFAIK Vista will still be single desktop only, so no desktop switching let alone rotating cube desktop switching. I don't remember OS X having multiple desktops either.
OSX uses it in two places. Firstly, when doing fast user switching. Secondly, it's a transition inside Keynote.
2. The wobbling, although weird and distracting, is original I think. It can be turned off.
Not at all. OS X had something similar (though a bit more simple) in 2001? And Longhorn demos had the exact same thing (wobbly windows) a few years ago.
It's even older. WindowFX, by the same company as WindowBlinds, supported transparent windows, completely customized shadows, wobly windows, and even other 3D transitions while dragging a window. It could (and can) also do various genie-like effects when closing windows. New effects can be created as plugins.
Before Longhorn in any case, and iirc OSX has never been as advanced as WindowFX.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
Moving to a hardware accelerated desktop isn't copying any more than moving to a high/true color desktop was. It's just the obvious next step given current hardware capabilities. I wouldn't say that Vista is copying OS X either, for the same reason.
I've spend maybe 30 min max playing with XGL (from CVS) and OS X, and I've only seen videos of Vista's 3D effects, but I'm already aware of several differences:
1. AFAIK Vista will still be single desktop only, so no desktop switching let alone rotating cube desktop switching. I don't remember OS X having multiple desktops either.
2. The wobbling, although weird and distracting, is original I think. It can be turned off.
3. Vista shows windows at an angle when cycling through them, XGL doesn't.
4. Mac OS X has cute elaborate effects like the genie thing, that Vista and XGL don't seem to be copying.