Don't get too excited, Apple files dozens of patents a year and many never appear in an Apple product. Those that do don't always do so as they were first filed
BumpTop released a beta for Mac OS X in January of 2010 and was actively trying to be acquired.
I'm sure the folks at BumpTop were trying to play Apple off Google to get the biggest payday.
Ultimately, Google acquired them and Apple opted to try to patent some similar concepts.
This patent was filed before the acquisition. Making the better interpretation that Apple saw the idea, thought they could do better and was never really a contender in any sales attempts
No. Apple under Jony Ive is clearly going in the opposite direction, away from skeuomorphic 3D UIs.
I guess that's why they filed the patent. And, no, I don't think this concept is necessarily limited to skeuomorphic design. And, even if it has skeuomorphic design elements, that does not limit the overall design. After all, it's design has to have some relevancy to and be recognizable by people's perceptual realities. If not, if it strays too far from the recognizable, or it makes too many choices about how it is to be used (by us), it then becomes unusable.
Problem is, the size of the file (or resource) is of no importance when sorting, at least to me.
I have never sorted by size, always type, date added (when it was added, finally!) and I've always wanted (sub) folders at the top.
Replacing folders with stacks would be great, and would make sense with weight-based physics type interactions. Also being able to resize files depending on personal perceived importance a la bumptop.
IMO what this system really needs is much better integration with apps. Sure, in iCloud there's now folders for Pages etc. but I want a video library which can be associated with an app, half my videos are in photos, only videos from the web that QuickTime can't handle can be saved in vlc etc. My iBooks is stuffed with PDFs, photos with screenshots and saved images and my own photos etc.
Adding a file system in the iOS8 way seems to me to be a cop-out and an answer to all those apps people use as file repositories, but not in any way revolutionary. And neither is this.
In the mid-nineties I had a third-party Mac OS extension that added some cool physics to the GUI. I forget what it was called, but basically when you clicked on a file or folder and began to drag it, the file or folder would appear to swing back and forth from the tip of your cursor, and if you picked it up on the desktop and dropped it back on the desktop, it would fall from your cursor to the bottom of the screen, crashing at the bottom to the sound of shattering glass. It was fun, and definitely made the interface feel more like it was a part of the physical world.
Its probably the 12" rumors on a macbook air. I think all of these rumors are one product. The 12" macbook air is the 12" tablet running on ARM and OS X!! These seem to be back that up with the file menu, etc. Bigger looking tablet, file system, etc.
That's the kind of GUI design I like, actually thinking about how things can be made more intuitive. Instead of just making everything transparent and then going on stage an WWDC to tell the crowd how incredible it is.
wait -- youre comparing a conceptual mobile OS patent to the incremental OS X announcement at WWDC?
The 12" macbook air is the 12" tablet running on ARM and OS X!! These seem to be back that up with the file menu, etc. Bigger looking tablet, file system, etc.
How is it a MacBook Air if it’s a tablet? How is it OS X if it’s a tablet? The patent’s UI has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with reality.
Apple patents ideas...good and bad. This is very far removed from the process of designing products. The design process involves a thousand "nos" for every "yes". A thousand patentable "nos" for every one patentable "yes".
No. Apple under Jony Ive is clearly going in the opposite direction, away from skeuomorphic 3D UIs.
Huh? What about the physics engine and parallax feature in iOS 7/8? Even the Apple Watch appears to utilize some sort of physics engine. Getting rid of green felt and faux leather with stitching isn't moving away from 3D UIs.
The 12" macbook air is the 12" tablet running on ARM and OS X!! These seem to be back that up with the file menu, etc. Bigger looking tablet, file system, etc.
How is it a MacBook Air if it’s a tablet? How is it OS X if it’s a tablet? The patent’s UI has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with reality.
Ah yes! But WHICH reality does it have nothing to do with!!??
In the mid-nineties I had a third-party Mac OS extension that added some cool physics to the GUI. I forget what it was called, but basically when you clicked on a file or folder and began to drag it, the file or folder would appear to swing back and forth from the tip of your cursor, and if you picked it up on the desktop and dropped it back on the desktop, it would fall from your cursor to the bottom of the screen, crashing at the bottom to the sound of shattering glass. It was fun, and definitely made the interface feel more like it was a part of the physical world.
The world was full of great fun extensions and ints back then. I remember the fun of slyly moving one of those off of a floppy you got onto a victim's Mac so that it would do something or make a sound after a computer was shut down and then restarted later...
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Before it was owned by Google, I installed and played with it. I enjoyed it, but it screamed for a multitouch desktop to be used on.
This patent was filed before the acquisition. Making the better interpretation that Apple saw the idea, thought they could do better and was never really a contender in any sales attempts
That is ONE HELL of an opening presentation!
Cue the people who think this means Mac OS X coming to iPad.
If anyone hasn't taken a look at the BumpTop pres... they should. Quite funny, interesting, and does "appear' to look like a basis for this patent.
Also... I bet Scott Forstall had an orgasm when he first saw it...it's a skeuomorphic fetishist's wet dream....
THIS IS THE SAME Video I was about to post!
And also Pranav Mistry leads in this innovation, who is directory of Samsung Innovation Think Tank Team.
I have never sorted by size, always type, date added (when it was added, finally!) and I've always wanted (sub) folders at the top.
Replacing folders with stacks would be great, and would make sense with weight-based physics type interactions. Also being able to resize files depending on personal perceived importance a la bumptop.
IMO what this system really needs is much better integration with apps. Sure, in iCloud there's now folders for Pages etc. but I want a video library which can be associated with an app, half my videos are in photos, only videos from the web that QuickTime can't handle can be saved in vlc etc. My iBooks is stuffed with PDFs, photos with screenshots and saved images and my own photos etc.
Adding a file system in the iOS8 way seems to me to be a cop-out and an answer to all those apps people use as file repositories, but not in any way revolutionary. And neither is this.
That's the kind of GUI design I like, actually thinking about how things can be made more intuitive. Instead of just making everything transparent and then going on stage an WWDC to tell the crowd how incredible it is.
wait -- youre comparing a conceptual mobile OS patent to the incremental OS X announcement at WWDC?
How is it a MacBook Air if it’s a tablet? How is it OS X if it’s a tablet? The patent’s UI has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with reality.
This is very far removed from the process of designing products.
The design process involves a thousand "nos" for every "yes".
A thousand patentable "nos" for every one patentable "yes".
So your iPad will feel heavier when you fill up more of the memory?
Samsung will immediately copy this and then Judge Koh will invalidate the patent.
Has Judge Koh invalidated any Apple patent? I think she has not and never intended to, helping local Apple all the way.
AND annoyingly top-heavy too!
Ah yes! But WHICH reality does it have nothing to do with!!??
The world was full of great fun extensions and ints back then. I remember the fun of slyly moving one of those off of a floppy you got onto a victim's Mac so that it would do something or make a sound after a computer was shut down and then restarted later...