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Friday, August 22, 2003 |
 Notice that the orange xml icon (that shows you where the RSS feed is) made it into Yahoo Korea's weblog product.
9:32:04 PM 
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Here is what I would buy: a simple, private, shared space P2P system. A folder on my desktop that allows me to share files with all of my computers regardless of where I connect. A system where I can create subfolders and share them with my family and friends via permissions. Very simple. No overhead like Groove. No big directory of users. Just a simple system. Perhaps there is something like this out there or it is a feature of a product that many people currently use that I missed, but this is one of the biggest hassles I have and I would like to solve it.
5:16:56 PM
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I am currently using the Kontiki download client for Gamespot to check out a couple of games. It offers a customized interface and is very fast and convenient. If we really want to solve large file delivery on the Web, then P2P integration is a must. BTW, it was smart for Kontiki to connect with the gaming world to distribute its software. The first P2P service provider, with a system that has the right attributes (most don't), that hooks into the weblogtool world will get a massive booooost. It would also work well with RSS enclosures....
4:50:30 PM
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Interesting to see the massive egos of the .com era are still intact at Google. LOL.
4:31:21 PM
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FYI. I started a vacation earlier this week (starting with my birthday on the 19th -- I am now 41, not so bad considering I felt 60 before my thyroid treatment kicked in) and will be in and out until after labor day. E-mail is the best way to reach me: jrobb@oddpost.com
3:27:18 PM
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According to Google, what percentage of Web users are still running Windows 98? Answer: 30%. Interesting given XPs relatively low hardware requirement. Now, what percentage of users will be running Lonhorn in 2007 (2 years after its release) given this hardware requirement:
This means Longhorn is going to have some heady requirements, at least compared with today's Windows. The bare minimum Longhorn system will have to be able to display at least 1024 x 768 with 32-bit color, and it must include a hardware accelerated 3D video card with at least 64 MB of RAM. But this is the base requirement: To take advantage of the fun eye candy Microsoft has planned, you'll need advanced video hardware with at least 128 MB of RAM.
1:23:35 PM
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Sun's Starfire video as an example of displays as "virtual furniture" (thanks Michael). Too bad a copy of video isn't currently available. Here is an example of the BE OS playing multiple media streams. Here is a large UI graveyard at AskTog.
12:55:20 PM
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E-mail publishing is on the ropes. It has been one of the major engines of revenue on the Internet for tens of thousands of legitimate publishers. Who is the white knight that will save the e-mail publishing industry? It should be Microsoft. Here is sobering thought: given Microsoft's update capability, the company could put a basic RSS reader on 30 million desktops by the end of the year. What a shot in the arm for the publishing world that would be.
10:15:44 AM
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Have you ever used the mnemonic technique of placing items to be remembered into physical locations? For example, many people use their home as the physical place and put the items on the doormat, the coat rack, the hallway rug, the living room table, etc. It is a fairly easy way to memorize extremely large lists quickly. Could this be applied to contact lists, desktop application icons, etc? If they were embedded in a graphical environment, would they be easier to manage? Or would it be easier if this data was embedded into a physical-world equivalent? For example: an office. I would have a filing cabinet for contacts and documents, a newspaper on my physical desktop for my RSS feeds, a pad of paper for my weblog, etc.
The reason this may work is that by the time Longhorn ships, graphical displays will be generally available that will consume nearly the entire visual field (large16:9 screens and display glasses). The pressure of the improvements in hardware will likely force a change in how the UI is built. The current UI models are too data intensive (window proliferation on a large field desktop is unpalatable).
10:01:00 AM
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What is the feng shui for a Web site or a desktop user interface?
9:37:47 AM
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 One thing Microsoft should do is commission Cyan, the designers of Myst/Riven, to build fully immersive wallpapers for Longhorn. What a blast that would be. Waves, tides, wind, birds, sound, etc. Winter, summer, spring, and fall.
9:33:24 AM
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Paul Thurrott has a great article on Longhorn. The great news is that Microsoft is going to bring "gaming" quality graphics to the operating system. The disparity between interfaces available in immersive games and productivity applications is huge and growing rapidly. To a large extent the paucity of immersive graphical UI capability on Windows is why Microsoft has been losing control of the UI since the advent of the Web. Obviously, Microsoft wants to change this. This change will be a big driver of Web 2.0 as developers combine the data, intelligence, and content of the Web with immersive GUIs. It is funny that much of what Longhorn will be able to do graphically (as seen in the demos) is something that Be did on 1995 level hardware (they claimed a 4x improvement in performance over Windows on similar hardware due to better design).
9:18:46 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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About Toolbar Options. My Google toolbar just automatically upgraded itself to include an "
