Xref: utzoo comp.windows.misc:775 comp.sys.next:940 comp.sys.mac:24211 alt.cyberpunk:1178
Path: utzoo!hoptoad!pacbell!ames!think!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!encore!gloom!cory
From: cory@gloom.UUCP (Cory Kempf)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next,comp.sys.mac,alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: replacing the desktop metaphor
Summary: Cyberspace... the final frontier...
Keywords: desktop metaphor, graphical interfaces, computing environments
Message-ID: <257@gloom.UUCP>
Date: 20 Dec 88 16:59:30 GMT
References: <4362@pitt.UUCP>
Reply-To: cory@gloom.UUCP (Cory Kempf)
Organization: Alloy Computer Products, Framingham Mass.
Lines: 54

Sorry that this is so long.

In article <4362@pitt.UUCP> bonar@pitt.UUCP (Dr. Jeffrey Bonar) writes:
>
>I have an invitation for net readers - create a metaphor for computing 
>systems that goes beyond the desktop cliche.
[...]
>						what should a computer work 
>space really look like?
>
>William Gibson described a cyberspace...

(I ignored the request to e-mail on the subject, 'cause I think that this
needs a wider discussion)

Up until about four years ago, all interaction to a computer was through
a single linear path (well, two actually).  The characters were typed on
the keyboard, and characters appeared on the screen.  The UNIX especially
is designed around this concept of a serial communication line.  It's
networking utilities (rsh, rlogin, rcp, etc) are the utilities that are 
implied by this.  

About a year ago, there was an idea for networking the mac (actually, I think
it was for a multiuser mac) that included the concept of a primative cyber-
space.  It was based on the desktop metaphor of the mac.  

The idea was to extend the desktop of the mac they way it is done with 
multiple moniters on a mac II.  Give each user their own mouse/keyboard.
If a user wanted, he could walk around the extended desktop with the mouse
the same way that is done with Close View.  Also, the user could pass a window
to someone else's desktop so that they could work on the application as well.

Each user could of course customize their own desktop much the way that
is done now.  

What I would like to see is the desktop metaphor extended into 3D, say
for example, an office.  You would have a desktop, a trashcan, a phone,
an inbasket/outbasket, a filesystem, etc.  Each of the services that are 
offered by the system are represented as an object in the office.  If you 
go out through the door, you find yourself in the hall (network), and from 
there can go into someone else's office (the outbasket & phone act in a 
predictable manner).

It'll be expensive (in terms of cpu time/bandwidth) but I think that it will
be worth it in the long run.  The way that you interact with the computer
in part determines the ways that you will consider using it.  (ex: desktop
publishing out of the Mac)

Comments?

-- 
Cory (...your bravest dreams, your worst nightmare...) Kempf
UUCP: encore.com!gloom!cory
	"...it's a mistake in the making."	-KT