A Flash-based GUI as a Windows Interface --- has anyone EVER heard of this or tried this?

Big Doug

Join Date 01/2002

A Flash-based GUI as a Windows Interface --- has anyone EVER heard of this or tried this?

After visiting some of the new movie sites such as the X-Men 2 and Terminator 3 sites,and seeing how both have a VERY high-powered Flash-based interface going on, the inevitible question springs to mind:

Does ANYONE know of any project going on ANYWHERE to create a Flash-Based Shell Replacement for the ENTIRE Windows or OSX (or better yet, Linux

) Interface?

If not, I think as a member of the Customization community, we should explore this.

Man...think of the possibilities that could lead to. And it doesnt have to be a shell replacement either, but something like what Object Desktop does --- ENHANCING whats already there and hiding what isnt needed.

I would be willing to fork over MY OWN MONEY to get a project like that going. And I CAN'T be the first person who has thought of this.

So to the coding lords at Stardock, what is the TECHNICAL feasability of a Flash-based GUI and all the shell hooks and stuff actually working ?

And Frog, I KNOW you could sell it...

I'd pay whatever it took to have what essentially would be the ULTIMATE interface...

PLEASE get back to me on this. I'm BEYOND interested.

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paxx

Join Date 03/2001

kona, there is no mention of Flash in that article. The closest thing I found was "splash screen", but that's totally different.

What the article says basically is that they are planning on getting rid of the BIOS and replace it with a hardware-level tiny operating system, with a graphical user interface to configure it, etc.

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OK I was a little of base but on the flipside, That would still be a step forward wouldn't it for a flash based windows?

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The only really big-time hang up I see with this so far is just needing enough Video Memory to handle the output, having enough RAM to facilitate, and having a processor capable enough. I run WinXP, a GeForce 4 MX series, 512 Meg DDR, and an AthlonXP 1800. That should be enough to make this run decent AND keep the system from running in a lag. I can get my GF4 to crank out 120 frames a second on games like Mechwarrior 4 (albeit I've tweaked my system and my stuff is a bit overclocked), so there isnt much that I've run into that will bog things down. I've run ALL Object Desktop and StarDock components all at once and never had a crash or or anything more than a slight( VERY slight) hiccup. And we all know how resource hungry ObjectDock and Desktop X can be.

I'm going to do the above example and see what it does.

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Well I did the test. I set the entire Matrix Reloaded site as an Active Desktop item, expaned it to cover my etire desktop, navigated to some of the more resource-juicy areas (like the quicktime VR tours), and then fired up the following programs:

Desktop X
Object Dock (with about 33 different icons at 24 pix size and the magnification set to 64)
Fruity Loops 3.5 (and I turned on the demo song and let it play)
SmartBar XP with the resource pane turned on
AND
Paint Shop Pro

SO far, my system didnt do anything more than the expected hiccup. My CPU held more or less at 40% with all that going, with the occasional peak out for maybe half a second every 20 seconds.

I began to navigate the Matrix site VR tours thing, and my cpu was happy as could be.

In fact, I opened a new browser window to come back to the msg board to type this, with all that stuff running. My machine is as happy as a clam. Not to mention all the background stuff like Cursor XP , MSN messenger and Norton AV going. And my equipment is your standard MSI and Lite-On stuff.

So I'm not sure that a Flash-based GUI will run anything but like its supposed to, after a load test like that. But of course, not all comps are equal.

I'm going to play with that Project Flash and see what it does, after I turn all this other stuff off

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