Topic: "Task Pooper" could revolutionize GNOME desktop

[sam]

The GNOME community's design and usability experts gathered for a week-long hackfest hosted by Canonical in the UK to shape the next major iteration of the GNOME desktop environment. GNOME 3, which is tentatively scheduled for release in September, will introduce new user interface paradigms and include an upgraded desktop shell environment.

"The participants at the hackfest are aiming to improve the usability of existing applications, enhance the look and feel of the desktop with new theming concepts, and brainstorm ideas for extending the functionality of the new shell. They are actively publishing mockups, design documentation, usability notes, and other materials that provide insight into their vision for the future of GNOME. By reading all of this material, I was able to get an understanding of their goals and plans.

"A shiny vision

"The highly excitable Seth Nickell—an interaction design consultant who previously worked at Red Hat and participated in the OLPC project—has documented some of the concepts that the hackfest participants assembled over the course of the week. The document, which is written in a style that resembles a perverse mashup of the Dhammapada and Timecube, describes new user interface elements such as the "Task Pooper" that could potentially appear in future versions of GNOME

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/02/task-pooper-could-revolutionize-gnome-desktop.ars