MetaFilter posts tagged with desktop

What a wonderful world!

mazola — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 23:04:20 -0800

NASA spacecraft captures breathtaking new view of Saturn. Hi-res photos available here. [Previously, more previously]

Is it curtains for Windows 8?

Egg Shen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:54:11 -0800

Some early reviews of Windows 8: "The worst computing experience I've ever had." "A technological, ideological and functional failure." "I’ve felt almost totally at sea — confused, paralyzed, angry, and ultimately resigned to the pain of having to alter the way I do most of my work." (previously) "Guaranteed to disappoint nearly everyone." "An unmitigated disaster." "A catastrophe for everyone in the PC space." Microsoft says: we believe in people and their ability to adapt and move forward. (previously) And if they don't? ... Windows 8 becomes the new Vista. Microsoft's anticipated revenue from Windows 8 upgrades does not materialize, hurting the company's stock price and forcing layoffs to maintain earnings. Microsoft's hardware partners are left with big stockpiles of unsalable Windows 8 PCs which they have to write down. This accelerates the share growth of the Asian PC makers, who can best withstand a price war. HP kills its PC division, and Dell is in deep trouble. Developers who bet on Metro have to live on canned tuna and string cheese. Nokia, stuck with a minority platform that European operators don't want to carry, wrestles with huge cash flow problems.

Turn all book covers into wallpapers

exceptinsects — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:04:36 -0800

Turn all book covers into wallpapers [via mefi projects] Lovely book cover images from classic novels, remixed with "the most defining quote" from each book.

Why Windows 8 Scares Me - and Should Scare You Too

Trurl — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:42:38 -0800

Why Windows 8 Scares Me - and Should Scare You Too The most important message I want you to understand is this: Windows 8 is not Windows. Although Microsoft calls it Windows, and a lot of Windows code may still be present under the hood, Windows 8 is a completely new operating system in every way that matters to users. It looks different, it works differently, and it forces you to re-learn much of what you know today about computers. From a user perspective, Microsoft Windows is being killed this fall and replaced by an entirely new OS that has a Windows 7 emulator tacked onto it.

Typographic Inspiration

netbros — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:36:27 -0800

Beautiful Type is a patchwork of photos and illustrations having a relationship with typography. AisleOne is focused on graphic design, typography, grid systems, minimalism and modernism. iABC is a collection of beautiful letters. Inspiration Bit has a nice archive of articles about web typography. Nicetype is about fonts, logos, posters and software. Twenty-Six Types celebrates the beautiful letters. Typenuts is type-themed iPhone and desktop wallpapers. Typoretum is about typography, letterpress and printing history. Enjoy.

Placeholder Images

netbros — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:38:56 -0800

Lorem Pixum — A placeholder image generator for web and print designers for any size or topic. Speed up your workflow during the development process.

40 years of Xerox Parc

Artw — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:43:19 -0800

"The Office of the Future" 40 Years Later - 40 years of Xerox Parc, the Palo Alto research group responsible for the desktop computer interface as we know it today.

You die ...

painquale — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:15:46 -0800

Desktop Dungeons offers an unquestionably unique approach to Roguelike games by taking compactness to the extreme. It distills the entire genre to a few core ideas which pay homage to the greats while forging new ground with gameplay similar to that of Oasis or Tower of the Sorcerer. It also features emergent complexity that rewards truly skilled and thoughtful players.

The New (Desktop) Hotness: Rainmeter 1.0

tybeet — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:23:48 -0800

PrettyDesktopFilter: Rainmeter has joined forces with Enigma for the release of Rainmeter 1.0, which finally makes code-diving for the creation of [H U D -s t y l e d ] desktops a thing of the past. (via: 1 2) Since Rainmeter is Windows-only, some users have taken it upon themselves to implement similar styles on OS X via Geektool, and on Linux with desklets to some success. Pro-tip: if you happen to like code-diving, you can do some neato keen over-the-top stuff with Rainmeter.

The future of Ubuntu Art

cowbellemoo — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:47:46 -0800

Ubuntu 8.04's Hardy Heron has recently perched on millions of desktops worldwide, but what does the future look like for the darling of the open source world? Now entering a new 2-year art developent cycle, Ubuntu's continuing quest for "pure, unadulterated, raw, visceral, lustful, shallow, skin deep beauty" has begun again in earnest. Bleeding edge desktop effects [youtube, music] are already creeping into the official distribution and the community is eagerly awaiting the new graphical look, promised as a ground-up re-imagination in the next release, Intrepid Ibex. Watch this space.

Wallpaper eye candy

Mitheral — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 19:08:07 -0800

Social Wallpaper. A community effort to classify, rank, and distribute high resolution images for use as computer wallpaper.

Desktop pictures - Computer wallpaper

hypersloth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:10:46 -0800

Hi-Res Photos for the Masses! How about that bandwidth?

Neat.

dobbs — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:08:46 -0800

Abnormal Behavior Child's got some interesting things to look at and watch or play with. Site self-describes as "visual poetry". {second link's got flash/sound}

Mandolux - photographic desktop wallpapers

nthdegx — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 03:04:46 -0800

Mandolux - photographic desktop wallpapers. Just keep hittin' previous.

PS. Your Favorite Operating System Sucks

fenriq — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 19:01:53 -0800

The Evolution of the Desktop 1984-2007
My oh my, how far we've come.

File it, pile it.

marvin — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:00:49 -0800

BumpTop is based on the long standing idea of piles as a desktop use metaphor, this seems to bring it to life at last. Will this sort out your desktop?

Desktop Earth 2.0

purephase — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 19:37:00 -0800

"Desktop Earth 2.0 is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you're logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment." The images are fantastic. Oh, and it's free. (See similar - via digg).

desktop subversibles

crunchland — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 18:58:36 -0800

desktop subversibles ... a collection of background subversions and awareness applications for the desktop.

Homeland Security Threat Monitor

kirkaracha — Tue, 25 Feb 2003 11:55:34 -0800

Homeland Security Threat Monitor is a small Windows application that runs in your system tray, showing the current terrorism threat level. Features blinking notification of increased threat level! [via Small Values of Cool]

Mac takes control of Windows!

Chief Typist — Thu, 18 Jul 2002 14:08:25 -0800

Mac takes control of Windows! A very useful addition to the Mac desktop for those who administer Windows-based servers. This handy utility allows you to start a Terminal Services session on a Windows machine.

This and a nice X Windows client lets my little 'ol iBook show the big iron who's the boss!

Dan Brilliant — Tue, 14 May 2002 08:48:01 -0800

"Motty is fast, simple and free." Football is quite rubbish, but this is great for us office prisoners.

Drempels

hmgovt — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 05:28:48 -0800

Drempels Animated desktop wallpaper software. Floaty nebulous. Nuff said.

Screen Wars,

m.polo — Tue, 05 Dec 2000 09:45:13 -0800

Screen Wars, a decent stab by Stephen Levy from Newsweek/MSNBC at summarizing the changes afoot in desktop OS GUIs. Credit where credit is due for some notable Apple alums; more faith than is justified in .NET.

Desktop Imperium

aurelian — Sun, 14 May 2000 22:10:18 -0800

Desktop Imperium is a related site to see for folks who think vir2l is cool. Among other things, the interface stumbles closely enough to being usable that you can figure out what's being presented -- free wallpapers, in an abstract, Matrix meets Tron meets Jackson Pollack mode.

mathowie — Fri, 04 Feb 2000 15:21:18 -0800

If you think webcams are cool and the k10k desktop gallery is great, you've got to see this woman's desktop. The ultimate in exhibition, updated every 5 minutes, showing whatever she's working on.