Dimensional Data

Since I built the beast, I've almost completely lived on it. Most of what I've been doing hasn't needed the power of the AMD64 with 2 gigabytes lurking under the hood, so I asked myself why I did use it more - it's not because it's newer than the laptop, and it certainly isn't because I like the keyboard better.

No, the reason is the 21" monitor. That's why. I like to squeeze as much data onto a screen as possible - it is my problem with my cell phone - the interface is kludgey for large amounts of data, and I deal in large amounts of data even when I'm sitting around. I'm the person who has about 10 tabs in SeaMonkey open at all times. Wikipad is a fixture that is always open and being added to, and allows me to track multiple ideas as my mind switches (the fun is when things converge!). And still, it's not quite good enough for me. I want more.

Granted, I'm not the average user, and Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder¹ means I have to work hard at coordinating what I think quickly. One of the fetishes I've had is dealing with my computer in a 3 dimensional manner - so that I can layer information (which I try to do with my writing a lot of the time).

And so... I decided to see how far the three dimensional desktops have come. Thus, I downloaded SphereXP and tried it out.²

I like it, though it's still in beta. I can right click and rotate my desktop in all directions - so I can literally toss things behind me. I can navigate my desktop in three dimensions, which... I've found really is good for what I do. Routine tasks like removing files and even accessing the taskbar are a little... strange... but it's in beta. Definitely a concept worth pursuing, when you consider that a human's perception is defined not too different from a sphere. The hardware requirements are somewhat daunting, and this desktop doesn't work on Linux (yet?), but it's the concept I'm testing out as much as the rendition of the software. If I could have this view on a large relational database, or even a computer network... well...

One can dream, right?

There are others out there, but I'll play with this one some more before going on to the next one.

¹Self medicated through massive amounts of caffeine. Sing Thy Praises of the Bean!
² Click the image to the left for a regular view, and in Flickr select 'all sizes' at the top of the image to see what it looks like at full size.