[ge-talk] Feedback on R2 Deskbar Mockup

[Waldemar Kornewald]

Hi Ari,

On 12/17/06, Ari <arielbhaviv at gmail.com> wrote:
> Then there are all these icons on my desktop. How do I get to anything
> quickly?
>
> That's really the problem that a lot of people face after using their PC
> for awhile. So how would I solve it? I don't think the average user will
> use search that often with fancy queries. That's a power user tool. But
> the average user should be able to find apps quickly with a mouse.

I've heard of QuickSilver for OS X. All the cool geeks seem to use it:
http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
You have a shortcut for the search and then start typing the name of
the app (or an abbreviation). The search results will appear
immediately. Just press enter to start it. I haven't used it, myself,
though.

> So to respond to
> http://haiku-os.org/node/9
> i want tagging but I also want directories for easy mouse browsing!

I can't discuss it ATM and we don't yet have any real solution or RFC,
but I think what you're imagining is far too simple. You will of
course have structure, but the whole point of tagging is that these
structures are more flexible and dynamic. For example, when searching
for music you could instruct Haiku to structure it by Genre and then
by Artist and it would behave like a folder tree. It would go even
further. The system could connect your person files with the emails
and files originating from or relating to this person and the
attribute could indicate the type of relation (similar to ontologies).
Haiku could know all relations between your data and use that to
visualize it in more flexible ways. Well, I hope that this at least
gives you a small idea of what we want to achieve.

> (also I hate app installation. File managers are pretty much useless
> because you need to go to "add or remove programs" in control panel in
> order to really delete anything properly)
>
> Apps should "know" what they are with tags. A game should identify
> itself to the OS as a game. When you get that game, it should
> automatically go into programs/games. Video apps into programs/video,
> etc. (I think there should be a standard list but not totally sure if
> the bebits toplevel is ideal. I'd add education and merge geek toys with
> utilities)

Please read this article (it's pretty technical, though):
http://haiku-os.org/node/108
We will eliminate installation for most applications. It will be as
simple as downloading or copying the app. After that, it will
automatically be known to the system. Just open the app (with Tracker
or Deskbar) to run it. No installation.

Bye,
Waldemar Kornewald