What Would You Like to See in a OS?

3D interfaces are useless until we have the ability to project them into the air and manipulate them directly with our hands. Until then, 3D interfaces are just an added layer of unnecessary complexity and resource consumption. There's no real problems with the 2D interface that can be solved by moving it to 3D but still interacting with it in 2D.

Now, when I can model with my hands in a 3D interface for Maya, or grab windows and pull them in front of or behind each other... THEN a 3D interface would be useful. But I think that's a ways off.

Cyrus, what you're suggesting is not a 3D interface, but a 2D interface that is composited/acellerated by a 3D graphics chip. So, technically it's rendered in 3D space, but it's not an actual 3D interface. And, as you pointed out, things like OS X, XGL, and Vista either have been or are going to be doing this.

As for what I'd like to see in my dream OS... I guess I really haven't thought about it much. Usually I just think of neat technologies that could be added to existing OS components or ideas to make them better or address some need I have. Most people's ideas for a "dream OS" (IT RUNS EVERYTHING ZOMG) are just unrealistic and probably won't ever be attained, so it's kind of pointless thinking about things like that.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Magic

Alright, then Linux-based or whatever. I still wanna be able to hit ctrl-alt-F1 to go to a VTerminal. Sometimes I just prefer the real thing to an emulator.

Oh, and making the UI completely keyboard accessible would be another plus. Works better on a laptop that way, and some days I just feel lazier than others.

Well, not that you want OS X, but I'm not sure what you mean about it being emulated. If I'm getting the wrong idea, I apologize. But OS X's Terminal is a real bash environment, just like any Terminal in Linux is tapping into the command-line interface that lives "below" whatever GUI you're running. And I'm sure it could be global-hotkeyed just like any other OS X function.

Also, OS X is completely keyboard accessible, you just have to turn on full keyboard access in Keyboard prefs. It's not quite the same as Windows' method (you have to remember a couple "shortcuts" to jump to things like the menu bar or dock) but it works.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Magic

Any terminal run in a graphical environment is, technically speaking, a terminal emulator. Even a regular old xterm. I've seen Mac OS X run in a text-only environment, but I can't remember how you boot into it that way.

And yeah, I've used OS X's keyboard access setting. Still not quite what I mean by fully accessible though. Can you move or resize windows with the keyboard? I was also having some trouble getting certain programs to "zoom" from the keyboard.

OS X's text-only mode is called "single user." You start it up this way by holding Cmd+s on the keyboard as soon as you turn on the machine.

As for being able to move/resize windows with the keyboard... I have no idea. Then again, I can't ever imagine a situation where using the keyboard to resize windows would be more efficient than a mouse. I can understand keyboard shortcuts for speed and whatnot... but honestly.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.