Re: Possible additional UI based on Natrificial's "The Brain"?

["J. F. Wittenberger" <jerry pfirsich compot com>]

> Steve Butts <sbutts@purdue.edu> writes:
> 
> >    The recent Byte just did an article on a piece of Windows software by
> > Natrificial called The Brain.  I won't go into details here about it, but
> > basically it is a UI based on associations/thoughts instead of a file
> > hierarchy.  A much better explanation is on their web page,
> > www.natrificial.com.  If you have access to a Windows machine I recommend you
> > check it out.
> 
> >    I've just been playing around with it last night and I think it's
> > a really cool interface to augment the desktop.  Technically the
> > program isn't too complex, so it shouldn't take any great leaps to
> > make an equivalent.  The main problems would be the graphical
> > layout, animations, and maybe getting it to work nicely with other
> > programs.  For example, in The Brain there are a few ways to make
> > links to a web page, one way is to drag a link from The Brain window
> > to the web browser that is currently display the page to be linked.
> > So somehow the web browser has to tell The Brain the URL for the
> > current page.

I did not have the chance to play with it (no win blows here), but
Steve was so kind to explain it to me briefly.  From this and the web
page above I conclude that those people had similar ideas in mind as I
had, when I started to work on WrapBit (I called it webstar before,
and the list may remember that name; unfortunatly I was told that it
needed a name change).

These days I started to actually use it (e.g., subscribed it to the
gnome list today instead of mine; hopefully it wan't break and bounce
mail:-() and I must admit I'm getting used to it.  Even with the rough
edges it still has (cut&paste instead of drag&drop), it's certainly
easier to handle then the traditional file hierarchie.

I feel uncomfortable with the idea to *require* any new user interface
then a web-browser/editor, but there is certainly something where
additional functionality would be useful.

> In netscape, the current URL is stored in a property attached to the
> window.  The browser can be also be instructed to go to other pages by
> setting properties.
> 
> Type "xprop" and click on the netscape window to see what they look
> like.

The user interface is acutally the part wich needs the bulk of work at
the moment.  Up to know I had to center at the server kernel
functions. Those seen to become stable at the moment.

>From that point of view I get the feeling, that the WrapBit kernel has
more potential then the Brain.  But that's a feeling and I would never
swear.

I think a free server kernel for the project is in place already.

/Jerry

PS: if you want to play with it: http://public.compot.com/WrapBit/
I hope the named will not break again.