Comments on: Aurora Desktop (is coming?)

By: More proof of Aurora Desktop? - istartedsomething

More proof of Aurora Desktop? - istartedsomething — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:01:17 +0000

[...] Aurora wallpapersHey, is that Aurora Desktop?Aurora Desktop (is coming?)Windows Ultimate Extra SecretsLazy man’s Desktop AuroraThe 10000*5626px Vista Aurora. Big [...]

By: frisky

frisky — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 05:00:12 +0000

yeah it will be with vista its called Desktop Aurora

By: someone-else

someone-else — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:19:12 +0000

what specs do you need to run it?

By: Lazy man’s Desktop Aurora at istartedsomething

Lazy man’s Desktop Aurora at istartedsomething — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 11:47:02 +0000

[...] The wonderful Dave Vronay from Microsoft’s UX team has submitted this great tip to me after constantly nagging him about Desktop Aurora. With a bit of persistence, it has finally paid off. With this practical yet simple method, you can emulate the look of Desktop Aurora without any system modifications or heavy impact on performance. However, it must also be said that this approach is very flawed, as it has several downsides that makes it impractical to use for extended periods of time. But who cares, you can only get so much of eye-candy anyway. [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 19:32:20 +0000

I’m not one to troll but I can’t see what all the fuss is about. I’m both an avid Windows user (mainly for business) and OS-X user (mainly for personal computing) but the implementation shown in the video is very poor. How is this any different to the ‘Active Desktop’ of old? OK so the technology has increased and the scope of content may be wider but the benefit to the user is still debatable. I’m not knocking the concept of an ‘animated desktop’, in fact I have used the rather splendid ‘Quartz Desktop*’ on my Mac but, honestly, after about 5 minutes you soon crave a static backdrop. Quartz Desktop is also far better in implementation as it replaces the whole desktop image with your animation and is truly seamless.

I honestly believe it is a ‘Good Thing’ that this kind of feature won’t ship in Vista – in the same way Apple could have added a ‘Quartz Desktop’ option to their OS – it just doesn’t cut it and detracts from some of the genuine developments in Redmond’s new OS. The hardware foot-print for Vista is already too big – especially for business users – and having to worry about users asking why their system won’t run Aurora would be… well you know.

* This isn’t part of OS-X but is a little ‘hack’ to enable quartz compositions (screen savers and the like) to be run as the desktop ‘wallpaper’; you can find more here: http://www.fourminutemilesoftware.com/quartzdesktop/

By: Windows Ultimate Extra Secrets at istartedsomething

Windows Ultimate Extra Secrets at istartedsomething — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 04:53:10 +0000

[...] Microsoft has confessed time and time again, everything we see now in Beta 2 and RC1 is what Windows Vista will be when it is released to manufacturing. This disappoints many Vista enthusiasts like myself who have been fantasizing about unique eye-candy features such as Desktop Aurora. Microsoft has invested a lot of time and effort into such features during the early betas, where did it go? Have they been canceled, or are they still coming? [...]

By: ~ XcoRpio ~

~ XcoRpio ~ — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:40:09 +0000

Cool! nice desktop

By: Slackmaster K

Slackmaster K — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:49:24 +0000

aurora XAML! Sweet!

By: More proof of Aurora Desktop? at istartedsomething

More proof of Aurora Desktop? at istartedsomething — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 02:40:57 +0000

[...] Or you might want to call it Desktop Aurora. Regardless of how you want to call it, the feature to have an animated and potentially 3D desktop background would be extremely cool. We’ve already seen two proofs (one/two) such a feature is going to be shipping with Windows Vista, but along with Build 5728 comes a new hint. This is shown in the OOBE (Out-of-box-experience) testing process. I extracted this from the resource file. [...]

By: Hey, is that Aurora Desktop? at istartedsomething

Hey, is that Aurora Desktop? at istartedsomething — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:10:39 +0000

[...] In the screen-view of that Windows Meeting Space client, the background image is extremely interesting. Could it be the Aurora Desktop? Evidently the build is new, since the style of the calendar widget is of those found in the RTM branch. The background has elements of the Aurora as well as the Flare, and even the blue and green the Microsoft guys told Robert Fripp to think about when composing the music for Vista. [...]