On Monday 25 August 2003 10:05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > The things I think are the most useful in the OS-X interface are: > > 1. The ability to sort of "zoom out" where all the application windows > are resized to be small enough so they don't overlap, in that state you > can pick the window you want to switch to, then all windows resize > back to their normal state. They'll keep updating in that "smaller" state > too.
The reason you can do that, and all other neat things OS-X does, is what apple calls "Quartz Extreme". its very simple concept and not far from other things people are playing with on Linux: they map each window as a texture map over a rectangular 3D object using the graphic's hardware 3D acceleration mode. after you do that, you can manipulate the window in hardware - resize it, make it translucent, swipe it here and there, etc' all in hardware and as long as you keep updating the texture bitmap that represents the actual content of the window, users' will be non the wiser. Only problem is : you can't do it in X, because X was designed a long time before any decent 3D hardware acceleration was even thought of, and as a result X sucks. Linux GUI will always be a rag tag collection of graphical elements straigning against the weight of the windowing system for as long as people won't ditch X and pursue greener pastures. IMO - X is the single reason why Linux and other free OSs do not have the same desktop market share as they do for server installation, and probably it diminishes acceptance in that sector as well. X is a piece of software most in need of a redesign if I ever saw one. -- Oded ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
