Microsoft to copy Apple once again - Zune Phone UI patent application
Looks like Micrsoft's going for a very similar iPhone tile-like icon UI for their Zune phone, a recent Microsoft patent publication reveals. A bit late to the ball guys.
Get a load of this!
Get a load of this!
Comments
But will it be brown?!
The brownest.
The Microsoft idea seems to be merging the dock-icon changing capabilities to something like the application folder when it's in icon mode. Apple isn't doing things like that. If they did, then the iCal icon in the application folder would always show the system date, and Mail would show how many emails you have and so on.
I can't say that the ramifications are all that great, maybe each icon would have to have a mini helper app to keep the state correct even if the program isn't running. Otherwise, the main program would have to continually run, and that doesn't sound good for resource use.
Other than the bottom row, do the other iPhone icons in the application list change appearance based on information relevant to the icon's program?
Yes the SMS icon changes to highlight the number of unread texts, thank God, I'd guess the iPhone's calander icon will display the right date like it did @ Macworld and highlight the number of events for that day, week or month with a red number thing depending on what mode the user has it set or something, when the iPhone is realeased.
If they did, then the iCal icon in the application folder would always show the system date, and Mail would show how many emails you have and so on.
This is very annoying, I hope they sort this in Leopard. If my widget can tell me how many emails I have in Mail.app, but the apps icon can't, that's just crazy. That iCal issue always bugged me, not that I ever use iCal. These are minor issues that should really be sorted, I'm really hoping for a new UI, new full set of icons, a radically different Core Animation Finder and some other stuff too for Leopard.
Now if you want to talk real iCal issues, lets talk about why when an alarm goes off and I close the alarm, the iCal icon doesn't stop bouncing in the dock! I have to click the icon, which opens the entire calendar, then close the calendar.....just to get the icon to stop bouncing.
I'm confused...what is the issue with iCal and Mail again? That they don't show the current date and number of emails, respectively? When the programs are not even running??? Your widget tells you how many emails you have because your widget is loaded and running, right? And if you want iCal and Mail to do the things you want, isn't there a way to have those programs loaded every time you log in/boot up?
Looks like you are still confused. My widget is reading the mail from the Mail app. You just pick one of the accounts you have set up in Mail and bingo, it checks every few minutes for new mail. The whole point is so one does not have to open Mail to see if they have new email, the widget shouldn't be needed for this luxury, especially when the number of messages appears on the icon when you open the app. The whole point about iCal is it doesn't display the current date on the icon until one opens the app - it always displays July 17th, and changes back to July 17th when you QUIT the app again.
Looks like you are still confused. My widget is reading the mail from the Mail app. You just pick one of the accounts you have set up in Mail and bingo, it checks every few minutes for new mail. The whole point is so one does have to open mail to see if they have new email, the widget shouldn't be needed, and the whole point about iCal is it doesn't display the current date on the icon until one opens the app.
i think the answer is simple. why dont you just open up mail and iCal, then press command-H to hide it. that way its sat there doing nothing and you'll be alerted when you've got new mail and the current date would be shown. dont know how doing this would affect overall system performance, but it shouldn't be too bad.
Looks like you are still confused. My widget is reading the mail from the Mail app. You just pick one of the accounts you have set up in Mail and bingo, it checks every few minutes for new mail. The whole point is so one does not have to open Mail to see if they have new email, the widget shouldn't be needed, and the whole point about iCal is it doesn't display the current date on the icon until one opens the app - it always displays July 17th, and changes back to July 17th when you close the app again.
Yes, but again, those apps are loaded and running. Nothing magical with that. If you didn't have your widget loaded, would it still show you your new mail? What icon or app gives you feedback when it is not running?
...The whole point about iCal is it doesn't display the current date on the icon until one opens the app - it always displays July 17th, and changes back to July 17th when you close the app again.
No it doesn't. It changes back if you quit the app. Any time I reboot, one of the first things I do is open iCal, then close it. It always shows the current date.
The apps are not running, they are sleeping and wake-up on a notification timer registered with the OS, do something for part of a microsecond and then go back to sleep. You would see less slowdown over a year doing that then you would have the second time you launched the app.
No it doesn't. It changes back if you quit the app. Any time I reboot, one of the first things I do is open iCal, then close it. It always shows the current date.
What are you talking about?
What are you talking about?
You said that the date goes back to July 17th when you close the app. It goes back to July 17th when you QUIT the app. Closing the app by way of clicking the red X does not make the date go back to July 17th. (Unless it really is July 17th, of course...
You said that the date goes back to July 17th when you close the app. It goes back to July 17th when you QUIT the app.
Excuse me, I meant to say 'quit' not 'close'. I wouldn't just close iCal, I'd quit it - I don't use it.
/I'll fix that typo now.
Excuse me, I meant to say 'quit' not 'close'. I wouldn't just close iCal, I'd quit it, I don't use it.
OK, so if you quit iCal, explain to me again how you expect iCal to show the current date? Do you also expect it to notify you of reminders.....when it is not running? I suggest removing the iCal icon from your Dock so the July 17th date doesn't bother you.
I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, but I'm just responding to your frustration when you said
...This is very annoying, I hope they sort this in Leopard....
There is nothing to sort out.
OK, so if you quit iCal, explain to me again how you expect iCal to show the current date?
You are saying that isn't possible? Tell me another one.
Do you also expect it to notify you of reminders.....when it is not running?
No.
I suggest removing the iCal icon from your Dock so the July 17th date doesn't bother you.
I didn't bring it up.
...The whole point about iCal is it doesn't display the current date on the icon until one opens the app -
What DO you expect iCal to do if it is not running? Or any program for that matter?
...it always displays July 17th, and changes back to July 17th when you QUIT the app again.
You seem to expect something different. Obviously when iCal is launched, something in the program changes the icon to reflect the current date. Maybe it also does this everyday at 12:00 AM, I don't know. But when the program quits, in other words, is no longer running, perhaps part of the shutdown process is to reset the icon back to its default icon. You're right, you didn't bring up the topic, JeffDM did, but when you responded with, "This is very annoying, I hope they sort this in Leopard.", you (and he) seemed to expect this.
Same with Mail. If it is not running, it's not going to go out to the mail server and tell you how many emails you have. But your widget, which is a running program, will.
Yes the SMS icon changes to highlight the number of unread texts, thank God, I'd guess the iPhone's calander icon will display the right date like it did @ Macworld and highlight the number of events for that day, week or month with a red number thing depending on what mode the user has it set or something, when the iPhone is realeased.
OK, I think I was going from memory, somehow I thought SMS & iCal was in the bottom row as if that was equivalent to a dock.
The article says that the patent was filed on June 16th 2006, so I doubt that Microsoft could have copied iPhone without serious espionage. That doesn't mean that I think the patent is necessarily valid unless there was some novel and specific way to do this that really cuts down on resource usage. I'm not going to flip through the patent right now though.