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

from WinCustomize Forums
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.
13,873 views 29 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yes...they exist...just like 3D interface GUIs.....take a trip over to shell city some time...
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
http://shellcity.net/ [I forgot]...
TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
http://www.shellcity.net [I forgot]...
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Do a search for 'shells'....you should find one or three...
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Big doub, I don't know if its posible, but before I came into skinning, I was creating all kinds of stuff in flash, I had a idea about skinning, so I selected a active desktop with a flash file as background. It was nice, cause I could link to sites and play little animations over there, just not sure if there is a java code to hide your taskbar and open a startmenu...
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, I found all the shell replacements THEY have...and I'm still not clear on which particular one does what I'm looking for.

If only Active Desktop weren't so....limited...then I could just do it through THAT.

Ah, forget it.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Its not really limited, if you hide your taskbar and stuff... but why flash actually? You DO can make a skin animated...
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well, If you take a look at the whole interface and navigation system on the Terminator 3 official site,I'm talking about all the stuff going on --- from the transitions and effects when an item is clicked on up to the whole structure of the interface and all the automated animation and fx. While I'm sure that it would take a hell of a LOT of work to get a windows GUI to do everything that's going on in that example, I still think that it's possible to do it somehow on more than an active desktop level.

I'm not a programmer (although I own Visual Studio, I'm really CRAP when it comes to programming), and my skills at Flash are equally inept; so maybe I'm just barking up a tree that really hasn't been planted yet. But down the road I see a Flash-enabled WindowBlinds that could REALLY spark up the next level in customization. That would be a cool feature for WB to debut on Longhorn with. Certainly the GUI in Longhorn will be able to take it...assuming microsoft still takes that road.

Heh. Well it was an idea and I guess its just not time for it yet.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've seen the flash on the T3 site...and a shell such as LiteSTEP could imitate its appearance quite well...but it WOULD take a fair bit of work to do....layercuts would be the module to 'make it happen' [not one I am used to, unfortunately.....yet]...
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Keep an eye on Shell City....I have seen items relating to 'flash shells' there in the past...
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
there is ProjectFlash: http://www.shellfront.org/shells/projectflash/

not really a need for DesktopX, Active Desktop will do just the same for embedding websites.

Flash on the desktop is a resource monster though. that Terminator site isn´t too spectacular, there are far more impressive Flash sites around. could be emulated in LiteStep using layercut and lsdynamic (not that much work if you´re familiar with it). of course you can embed websites on your desktop with LiteStep as well (using lsbrowser).
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ProjectFlash moshi pointed to is the only Flash based shell I know off.

And LiteStep can't even come close to what's possible in Flash. Flash is vector based, so you can rotate and scale at will. Ofcourse you can fake that in LiteStep, but that would be highy cumbersome.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
was just speaking of emulating that Terminator site. not much scaling/rotating there. most effects could be done with moving an alphatransparent layercut shortcut with lsdynamic while blending it in at the same time (that´s possible, i have already done that when i was playing on emulating the Slicker program for KDE).
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The biggest problem is that Flash is very very very very resource hungry. So, unless you got memory and processor speed to spare, it would just slow you down extremely. Definately not something I'd recommend.  If you want to try it out, try it for yourself. Place the Matrix web page as a component, full screen, on your desktop.

Then, try to work. See how long it takes to open Photoshop, Word or Outlook. Try to get some work done. You'll see, you'll be turning off that Flash object on your desktop really quick.

Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
it´s a little more than a simple zoomer (DesktopX) or layercut (LiteStep) as this object also gets moved and blended on the fly. it´s possible in LS and probably in DesktopX as well using something as the bouncing ball object.

one disadvantage of Flash is that it all one rectangle window, so either you have to set it to always on bottom or the whole window will get on top of other windows when focused. that means problems if you want it to be more than an animated wallpaper with some shortcuts and objects. think of a menu for example. the only way to work around this i can imagine would be a single instance for each submenu. as i said above: resource monster ...
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I don't know about a flash based windows, although that would be awesome but I have heard about a flash based GUI BIOS. Apparentlly intel and microsoft want to get rid of the BIOS chip and replace it with a self learning GUI that is flash based.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No, I was sure about what I was talking about... Here is the link:

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-985600.html

Intresting, huh?
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
what´s next? telling us about Flash Gordon?
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WOW what a topic!!! Good stuff Bid Doug.

I think Micromedia (the makers of Flash and other products like Shockwave) is working on Flash doing something outside of the explorer window.

So look out for that.

Alos Explorer has this no frames (IE no border frome) so maybe if you want you can try to have Flash look lik its is not in Explorer.

With DX you can use the website explorer thingy and place flash in it. With DX scripts you can interact with the explorer window but not sure about the flash...

I'm woring on something like this becase Flash has more animations an I wanted a really animated DX background without having super huge png files or large png files that turn black when it is animating.

anyway, this is a great topic. News worthy. I;'m going to check out shell city.

also check out what 3DNA is doing. Needs work but not bad stuff.

I think DX is the closest thing to what T3 website can do.
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You guys check out that link I gave? Can someone explain what they are doing in lamens terms for me?
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
thanks for the link kona. I'll have to read it later, already late for class...

/me thinks this will make a nice news story article