'Atmosphere' -- Just like 'Natural Desktop'

Soon enough, they'll say we copied the Mac

http://mydreamapp.com/contestants/view/cameronwestland/
from WinCustomize Forums
Download Squad alerted me to the finalists for the Mac 'My Dream App' contest finalists.  First place went to 'Atmosphere':

1st Place: Cameron Westland - ATMOSPHERE. "A virtual window to the outdoors for your desktop. View a virtual representation of your area's weather when too busy to go outside." [http://mydreamapp.com/contestants/view/cameronwestland/]



Hmmm... Sounds just like Stardock's 'Natural Desktop' to me! [http://www.naturaldesktop.com]

(I hope Mac enthusiasts don't start claiming that Stardock copied them.)

It has a nice layout, though, with an ObjectBar2.0-like sidebar for configuration/options.  See the screenshots.

4,003 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The biggest difference is that the Mac app puts the weather on the whole desktop. ND only animates the little window.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It doesn't do anything yet, though. It's an idea. A good one, to be sure.

We've been looking at this kind of thing as well, but for XP we've had to settle with wallpapers. Full-screen animation can get very expensive, but it is getting relatively less so over time. Who knows what may be possible in the future?

DirectX 10-class equipment is going to be very powerful and I am sure we shall see some innovative applications from it.
ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
We've been looking at this kind of thing as well, but for XP we've had to settle with wallpapers. Full-screen animation can get very expensive, but it is getting relatively less so over time. Who knows what may be possible in the future?


We have discussed this off and on in the Under The Skin podcast. I've long thought that Natural Desktop should become more DesktopX-generated weather effects, and less static wallpaper use. However, as stated, the performance hit even with a few snowflakes proves to be too much to outweigh the visual benefits. I'm looking forward to taking advantage of Vista's video-card rendering of the desktop, as this will likely offer a significant improvement in DesktopX's ability to animate stuff. Maybe. I'm not totally up-to-speed on how all that will interact, but I'm hoping it works better.