It really isn't often I can say, "I have seen the future" in a Darth Vader sort of voice, but I genuinely believe I have. I know how messy a students' desk can be like, partly because I am one and my desk is an absolute mess. On the average student desk, I have seen:
a printer, a cup of tea/coffee, computer speakers;
a hole punch; several Post-it notes, an iPod;
three separate essays, a pack of cigarettes;
three (and a half; this is an average remember) books;
a scrap of paper with a shopping list scribbled on it,
headphones, a picture frame of family and/or friends in,
a cigarette lighter, Blu-Tack, and their university ID card.
Some of these obviously can't be placed on your physical desktop, but BumpTop, a revolutionary new desktop visualisation software has evolved my student ways for the better. It has transformed my desktop into a three-dimensional utopia, allowing me to post things on either side of my screen and on the desk-part; it makes my desktop feel like it's my actual desk. Anything in bold above, can be achieved with BumpTop.
The software is only in preliminary beta, and has been for quite a while considering it's currently at the 17th beta phase. It was shown off at the TED 2007 Conference and has been taking the web by storm, even though it is currently only in private testing. The media, such as myself, have been all over it like a nasty rash, but nothing but good has come out of this amazing software.
It's called "BumpTop" because everything on your desktop, replacing your standard Windows desktop, can be shifted and bumped about. By tapping an icon with another icon bumps it in a calculated direction, making it seamlessly similar yet different enough to how a real desktop works. The taskbar remains in place, but having certain themes attached to the application give Windows 7 an entirely new light.
There are many areas of BumpTop which can be built upon, and hopefully we'll see more developer angles in the near future. Nobody says it has to stay exactly the way it is; maybe a few more "gadgets" on your desktop, perhaps. Considering BumpTop uses around the same amount of memory as the Desktop Window Manager in Windows 7, it wouldn't be a bad addition to the operating system.
There's one thing for sure, is that this is the next generation desktop, and I'm surprised Microsoft haven't thought about adding this to Windows 7.
When
you
set
up
a
new
Windows
10
PC,
you
have
a
choice
of
four
types
of
user
accounts,
from
the
old-school
local
account
to
the
newest,
Active
Azure
Directory.
Here's
how
to
make
the
right
...
Microsoft
is
enabling
enterprise
features
by
default
in
the
Dev
Channel
builds
of
Chromium-based
Edge.
Here's
what's
available
to
IT
pro
testers
now
and
what's
coming
later.
...
Four
years
after
the
debut
of
"Windows
as
a
service,"
Microsoft
continues
to
tweak
the
Windows
Update
for
Business
rules.
And
if
you
don't
know
how
to
play
the
game,
you're
likely
to
...
Microsoft
has
yet
to
release
the
promised
'beta'
channel
for
its
Chromium-based
Edge
browser,
but
it's
now
telling
IT
pros
the
Dev
channel
is
ready
for
them
to
start
testing
it.
...
This
month's
Security-only
update
package
for
Windows
7
includes
an
unexpected
compatibility/telemetry
component
that
has
some
skeptical
users
up
in
arms.
...
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