I was doing some browsing the web the other day when I came across a cool piece of eye candy software called BumpTop. BumpTop is a 3D replacement for the conventional windows desktop, which is an excellent concept with wonderful features. Although some already benefit from BumpTop on their normal Windows Desktop (It will soon be available for Mac OSX and Linux), most agree that its full potential will be released with use of a NUI (Natural User Interface), like Microsoft Surface.
When you start Bumptop, it turns your desktop into 3D – a floor and 3 walls (the wall nearest isn’t shown). On a fresh install it automatically adds a few things. On the left is a stickynote that you can easily edit by double clicking or make another by right clicking anywhere else. On the back wall there are three “picture frames” out of a harry potter movie, on the fact that they change to a different picture every 30 seconds. The right wall has convenient email, facebook, and twitter icons, in which you drag other icons or images on top of in order to attach an email, publish on facebook, or tweet on twitter. And finally, on the “floor” of your desktop are the normal icons. Any icons you had on your old desktop will show here, where they can be organized and moved.
The concept is great, but in productivity terms it’s not worth the trouble. It seems to me that it’d be a better option to organize with folders with a clean desktop, than to purposely make your desktop bloated with icons for the purpose of making piles and grids. After all, how much time do you actually spend looking at your desktop? In most cases it’s the few seconds after boot up and before shut down.
As mentioned before, Microsoft Surface would be a different situation. In fact, with multitouch capabilities, BumpTop would be a GREAT option. It would make features like lasso (in image above) a lot more convenient and efficient. Even simple tasks like moving and sizing icons would be much more easier and worth the time. After all, BumpTop’s motto is “Like a real desk, but better”, and Microsoft Surface’s goal is to allow for accessing data with your hands and “moving information between objects with natural gestures and touch.” Sounds like a good mix to me.
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