BumpTop 3D desktop comes to the Mac

Some technologies get way more hype than they really ought to, given the lack of real-world utility they offer. If you ask me, the king in this category is the idea of using a 3D user interface for computing.

Since the early 90's, people have speculated about a great new paradigm shift away from the desktop metaphor to a more "natural" three-dimensional interface where the user navigates a virtual building to interact with the various data on their computer, and later on the web. While this has been successfully implemented, nobody is arguing it's a more efficient way to compute than the traditional 2D desktop.

For the past few years a new 3D approach called BumpTop was announced that maintains the desktop metaphor, rather than switching to a different paradigm. It received a lot of press with interesting and impressive looking demo videos, and eventually released a Windows implementation. And now BumpTop is available for the Mac in both a free and Pro version ($29 US).

So, is the concept of a 3D desktop going to revolutionize computing? In a word, no. It's fun to play with, but it certainly doesn't make me feel more productive. Now, to be fair, my Mac doesn't have multi-touch, and BumpTop Mac includes multi-touch capabilities that could make it easier to use. But I have a hard time thinking of BumpTop as anything more than a sophisticated toy.

At the end of the day, what I like about computing is that it's easy to keep things organized. I don't want my computer's desktop to look like my real desktop does. It's messy enough as it is.

[via Technology News]

Tags: 3d desktop, 3d user interface, 3dDesktop, 3dUserInterface, commercial, desktop, desktop metaphor, DesktopMetaphor, freeware, hype, parad, timewasters