As of late 2013, Linux still isn't.
Of course, Windows never was.
And don't get me started on OS X...
Ready or not, here they are
{Ironically, just in time to watch the desktop's decline. Web/XML-style UI's are the trending direction, even though the current
HtmlStack sucks.}
20131218
My
ScreenFull looks nothing like my
DeskTop -- why are we still clinging to the metaphor of a computer screen performing as the top of a desk.
Have you ever seen a mouse on your
ScreenFull, it's almost certainly on your desk, usually (unless you're left handed) just to the right of your keyboard.
Neither mouse nor keyboard are visible on most computer
DeskTops -- except that recently I have seen keyboards on iPads.
My real
DeskTop has a coffee cup, a pen, some envelopes, a telephone, a stapler, a beer, a box for trash, an iMac, a bunch of cables to connect other devices -- (headset, iPod, backup disk, lamp), some prospecti, a keyboard, a mouse, etc. -- (other things I don't wish to disclose)
There are no icons on my real
DeskTop.some
The mouse manifests itself as an arrow on screen, and the keyboard is allowed to put characters into some panels where the mouse's arrow may have clicked.
ScreenFull,
ScreenFace, etc... let's come up with a better name for what
ComputerGeeks have been calling the
DeskTop.
--
ChrisGarrod if this seems a rant, please move it to those nether places. Maybe these are just
AmericanCulturalAssumptions
We need a better word or paradigm for the
DeskTop
</
RantOff>
Apps like the new Office versions are more like an active magazine than traditional desktop apps, and a lot of WebApps use a DashBoard metaphor.