Do you remember back in 2006 when a 3D desktop called BumpTop was buzzing around the Internet? A prototype was supposed to be available “soon,” and the middle of last year we were awestruck once again when BumpTop was demonstrated at the TED Conference. Here we are a year and a half later and we’re still not able to download it.
Hope is not lost though! A new product, called Real Desktop, aims to do what we expected from BumpTop. You can drag/throw your icons around to relieve some anger organize the desktop, and the surface is reflective to add some extra eye candy.
Performance wise it’s not bad, and the system requirements are pretty reasonable. I just don’t feel like a program like this is for me. I’m normally a sucker for eye candy, but not when it affects my productivity. I think this is one of those things that you show your friends, and then don’t really use after that.
It costs $26 (can be installed on 3 computers) if you want all of the bells and whistles, otherwise a freeware version will ease the burden on your pocketbook. Real Desktop will run on both Windows XP and Vista.
Real Desktop [via TechnoBuzz]
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Tags: Newly Released, Software, Windows, Cost, Downloads
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Sounds like a nice Vista Extra
While it looks cool I don’t know if that would be worth offering as a Vista Extra. I guess it’s better than nothing, but I would like to see some Vista Extras that focus on making users more productive.
This does seem to be eye candy for many, and even thought eh freeware version doesn’t exactly offer anything; I’m still planning to stick with just the freeware version. I just don’t feel that this is worth spending $26 dollars on. With that money, I could get WindowBlinds, which has much more features and has just as much eye candy (Although it’s not 3D). The freeware version isn’t anything to brag about either. DesktopX can be skinned in a variety of ways, and you can also download widgets for your desktop to relieve stress and for other functions.
Although this isn’t the best thing out there, it is still quite innovative. Perhaps another company will take the ideas and incorporate it in a skinning program or as a feature in the operating system. I’m predicting we’ll have something like this from Apple before the end of this decade.
What would actually be cool would be to see Stardock pick up a feature like this and offer it in DesktopX or WindowBlinds.