A fun, but maybe idealistic idea: an "application" of a computer should just be what one decides to do with it at the time.
I've been wondering how I might best switch between "tasks" (or really things that aren't tasks too, like toys and documentaries and symphonies) in a world that does away with most of the application level modality that we got with the first Mac. The dominant way of doing this with apps usually looks like either the OS X dock or the Windows 95 taskbar. But if I wanted less shrink wrap and more interoperability between the virtual things I'm interacting with on a computer, without forcing me to "multitask" (read: do more than one thing at once very badly,) what's my best possible interaction language look like? I would love to know if these tools came from some interesting research once upon a time. I'd be grateful for any references that can be shared. I'm also interested in hearing any wild ideas that folks might have, or great ideas that fell by the wayside way back when. Out of curiosity, how does one change one's "mood" when interacting with Frank? Casey _______________________________________________ fonc mailing list fonc@vpri.org http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
