Some time ago I discovered Spaces, the Virtual Desktop utility that comes with Mac OSX. It took a while to get used to the extra step of switching desktops instead of juggling with bringing windows to the top, but once I'd got the hang of it, then I wondered how I'd ever managed when I had a single over-crowded screen. As switching between desktops has become second nature, I've begun to wonder if there are any ways to extend the ease of use and immediacy any further...
One thought was to replace the keyboard key-press with a mouse click, but I used to use a three button mouse when I used Unix, and my fingers are happier with just a couple of choices. Squeezing a mouse feels wrong to me, too. The finger-gestures on the new AppleMagic Mouse might be a way forward, and I'll check that the next time I'm in an Apple Store (or find someone with a Magic Mouse - I've always found that talking with another user is a good way to shortcut the learning cycle).
But it turns out that there are a few software solutions that make virtual desktops easier to use, so here's a few things to consider.
- Dockland Soft'sSpacesuit is a free utility that allows you to have different wallpapers for each desktop, so you get immediate visual feedback as you change desktop. But Dockland are into more than just extra wallpaper - Fantastik is a neat 'window preview' switcher system that offers an alternative way to sort out multiple windows.
- The CocoaBots' Hyperspaces is an alternative wallpaper-per-space utility that also allows you to colorize/tint one background image differently for each desktop.
- Once you start looking for alternative wallpapers for desktops, then you also find utilities that extend the basic Finder functionality. One example is Conjure 3 from Conjurebunny. Another (early beta) example is here.
There seems to be an evolution in progress here. Multi-touch tables, Magic Mouse, and iPhone seem to be influencing people to increase the tactile aspects of screens, and it seems to be leading to something of which we are only seeing glimpses so far. I'm reminded of other 3D-influenced utilities like the Cooliris image browser, and I also remember previous bursts of 'user interface' innovation activity like the transition from the one-app-at-once Finder via the Switcher to the many-apps-at-once MultiFinder and alternatives like the Slave beta from (I think) Steve Capps...
What I'm certain of is that there's plenty of things to explore in this area, and that having a different wallpaper for each virtual desktop is only the beginning.
You may have seen the news about the failure of epic proportions by Eurostar last night that is continuing into today (Saturday 19th December), which is rapidly turning into a PR disaster for the train operator. But the news media are concentrating on the experience of the passengers, so I thought I would give the story from the viewpoint of a parent of a young adult on the train.
In these days of digital connectedness (something which Eurostar, their web-site, their Twitter feed, their PR company, and presumably the duty manager with the mobile phone seem to have missed out on) you feel very connected. So at 21:50 last night we knew that the 9059 Eurostar from Gare du Nord in Paris was 'waiting to enter the tunnel' after already being delayed leaving Paris. Then we heard nothing. After half an hour then the train should have been through the tunnel. Mobile phone and texts (SMS) got no reply, which suggested either the train was still inside the tunnel, or mobile telephony had failed in Kent, and given the way that even a slight bit of snow in the UK causes total chaos, this didn't seem very unlikely!
Just out of curiosity, I had a look at Twitter, and discovered the #Eurostar tag was already buzzing with people asking about what was happening? It seems that people at St. Pancras were not getting any useful information, and the train ahead of the 9059 had not arrived. As usual, Twitter was several hours ahead of any news services, and the web-sites of Eurostar (ridiculously jolly at a time of crisis, but then this was true right through to the middle of the following day - thank goodness for spin and positive PR in an emergency), National Rail, Eurotunnel (who did eventually put some information on their web-site! - a few hours into Saturday morning, hours after it had first broken on Twitter), or the BBC News web-site (the BBC were late catching up, obviously were not watching Twitter, and I left a hot-line message and an email telling them to watch Twitter for some breaking news!) were blissfully ignorant of the developing crisis until several hours had passed an we were into Saturday morning. The one shining light on Twitter was Ali Bunkall, a reporter from Sky News, who used Twitter to convey much needed information to worried and concerned relatives - full marks to Sky News, Big fails to everyone else who were obviously sleeping and unaware.
So there we were, approaching midnight, no news from the train, and wondering what was happening. So I tried enquiring by phone from info on the Internet and Teletext. I'm always struck by the way that companies are determined to stop you contacting them by phone, and even when you do get a number, then you get put in a queue that tells you they value your call, etc. etc. Eurostar's number was wierd: the number on Teletext had a recorded announcement saying that the number had changed. Phoning the new number got through to another recorded announcement that gleefully informed me that this was outside of working hours, and that I should call back when they were open. Now Eurostar may have been closed for its office staff, but it was still operating trains, and so they were not 'closed for business', they were operational. An operational company should be contactable, or should present up-to-date information on the web, or by Twitter, or by recoded announcements on a telephone line. How about an emergency telephone number? For this kind of emergency? Have they thought about crisis management with all those millions of euros in investment?
So then I tried National Rail enquiries. Seemed like a good idea. But it wasn't. The person I spoke to stone-walled me totally. They commented that they had had several enquiries about Eurostar, and suggested that I contact Eurostar. When told that the number was 'out of hours, please ring in working hours', they claimed that they had no way of contacting the operational part of Eurostar. So I asked for the supervisor, explained the situation, and was told that they had no way to contact an operating train company, plus the train was not in the UK, it was in the tunnel. So I asked for their supervisor, and got passed back to the first person. I suggested that there must be a way to contact the people at Eurostar who were operating the trains and was told that this was not possible. So I then asked how I could complain at the total and complete lack of help that they had provided, asking them if the conversation had been recorded ("yes") and was told that I could not complain because it was nothing to do with them - it was with Eurostar and a train that was not technically 'in the UK'. National Rail enquiries could not have been less helpful, and they join the growing list of casualties from above.
Next was 999, which got us to more 'no current information', presumably because they weren't watching Twitter! But they did say they would try to find out and ring us back. Which they did. Full marks to Suffolk Police who were totally brilliant. Apparently it IS possible to talk to the operational part of Eurostar, but National Rail enquiries will not let members of the public do it, you have to go via the emergency services. So finally we discovered, via an official route, that trains were stuck in the Channel Tunnel. Of course, we already suspected this via Twitter, but it was good to have it confirmed.
And so it went on. Sky News man Ali Bunkall had best info via Twitter, web-sites zero, TV news gradually catching on to a major story so that at 3 am they had a Eurostar 'spokesperson' on who blamed the cold weather, said that there had been 'no causalties' ... 'at the moment' and generally did very little to reassure worried/frantic parents/relatives. A few hours later a different and more 'spin-prepared' spokesperson was presenting a rather more carefully worded and neutral position, again blaming the weather.
Finally, just after 4 am, after about 5 hours of very little information (and most of that from Twitter and not from conventional 'News' services) we got phoned from the 9059 train, which was now out of the tunnel... but this was only the beginning...
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