“Apple issued patent for interface design effect in Mac OS X. The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple Computer with a patent for an ‘ornamental design for a user interface for computer display,'” Andy Barnes reports for AppleInsider.
“Otherwise known to Mac OS X users as the ‘genie effect,’ the feature presents the illusion that application and Finder windows are shrinking into the system dock when minimized by the user,” Barnes reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A “fun” effect that we infrequently use, preferring Exposé, the good old “Hide” command, and even “Command-Tab.” We do wish Apple would show this kind of “eye candy” to the rest of the world in TV ads. We always trot out “Genie” when showing people Mac OS X for the first time, just to see them gawk. Could Windows’ UI be farther behind? Windows users who are unfamiliar with Mac OS X would be amazed at what we Mac users consider routine and mundane. Showing people Mac OS X in action would sell more Macs by luring TV viewers into Apple Retail Stores where the Mac’s true benefits and advantages over Windows can be adequately explained.
Related MacDailyNews article:
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003
uhhh …
because His Steveness seems to believe the iPod is the only advertisement he needs right now…
Why doesnt MDN post a survey to find out if Mac users would like to see more ads about all the other fine products made by Apple… then foreward the results of that survey to one Infinete Loop ??
Indeed. There are so much more effects that the OSX is capable of doing, comparing to the junk windows. Even the fact that OSX is virus free till date doesn’t seem to be loud enough to wake all those windows user out there to switch.
i wonder where alt tab came from… oh no! apple copied someone!
and no, MDN, showing this to people is cool – BUT it WON’T sell Macs. People don’t buy a computer just because they see a cool effect.
Cool! Another user who has the dock on the right-hand side. I adopted that a few weeks ago and love having the full height of the screen. Plus, it’s less reminiscent than the Windows task bar. ;^)
“… I wonder where alt tab came from… oh no! apple copied someone!…”
uhhh…. Ive looked on all of my keyboards…and cant find the “alt” key….
Did someone swipe it from me ??
Alt = Option Key.
Apple has TV ads about the Mac?
Because if a Windows user saw that, they would most likely assume there is no option to turn it off and that would be another strike against OS X. It may be eye candy to some, but many would think it a waste of time. I turned mine off…
The person who mentioned the free advertising from the iPod is partially right. Apple is probably being careful about its advertising dollars. I think they are also trying to stress the engineering and design aspects of their computers (to move into the business world) instead of the eye candy appeal. People who are motivated by pretty colors are probably not necessarily ready to drop a couple K on demand.
Also, hardware is not software. Apple needs to manage it production carefully not to develop excessive inventory or to drive demand to the point where they can’t deliver (which has been a problem).
about the “Genie Effect”? It doesn’t really do anything. It is just a gee-gaw. It would not attract customers.
my buddy who i switched, loved the genie effect. He was awed. He nearly died on the puff of smoke.
He can’t believe he didn’t switch years ago. He hated his XP box, but loves his Mac. He now goes to the apple store a few times a month to play and see what’s new.
Genie effect? This is one feature I detest. I turned this feature off day one.
If you want to show some eye-candy with real usefulness show Expose.
Next year show ’em Spotlight and politely ask when WinFS is going to be released for Longhorn.
Anyway, it’s not the alt (Option) key, it’s the command (Apple) key…
I’m sitting in an office with a disgusting IBM NetVista running Win2k. What a piece of shit – takes nearly 5 minutes to restart (which I’ve had to do AT LEAST 5 times today due to mysterious crashes. Why doesn’t my F9 key expose all my open windows? Why do I have to go to the Start button to turn it off? Where is the Any key? Why do fonts look so terrible – Times New Roman looks like Courier?
There are so many stupid little ‘trays’ and ‘toolbars’ it looks like 20 people have designed the OS without talking to each other.
And Steve Ballmer, you can kiss my rusty sheriff’s badge you idiot.
I must work at the same place you do Smithy, because I’m sitting in front of an equally sh*tty NetVista. This piece of junk crashes at least 3 times a day and also takes forever to boot back up. God, how much better my work life would be if they would ever dump this sh*t in favor of Macs. At this large corporation it’ll never happen though, they don’t even know what a Mac is around here. Oh well, at least I have my Mac at home…
Eye candy does have a small effect on sales…not huge…but a small effect. More “genie” type stuff should be in Tiger to offset smallcow’s attempt in a few years, but it should be able to turn on and off in System preferences. It should not annoy the pro, but should wow the newbie.
Lance,
Ditto! These clowns in my company (massive international recruitment agency) will not even consider OS X – no reason, just a straight “no”
Think how much more productive the world would be with OS X – systems running 24/7/365, just Sleep your machine then INSTANTLY wake it up to begin work again.
I love taking my iBook in and using it during my lunch hour (I do freelance design). The funniest thing is the IT clowns have installed a Wireless network, and even though I’m not meant to be able to do it, my iBook switches effortlessly from my home AirPort network to theirs and they’re none the wiser.
Windows is pathetic. I really hate this NetVista. It’s even got a HUGE power brick which I’ve just found on the floor (I thought it was a paperweight
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Absolutely Newmanstein!! What he said.
Lance & Smithy…
Start slow….
Register (anon) for a web-based email somewhere.. then start forewarding articles from MDN about the lack of security (and other WinCrap problems) to the “decision-makers” in your respective companies..
Eventually… even they might have a light bulb turn on over their heads…
hey, it couldnt hurt !
What if the world did go to OSX in all work environments? Could we shorten the work day as we wouldnt have to deal with crashing computers or lost work? Im still in college but I notice it takes me much less time to write papers and I dont worry about losing anything.
I agree that Expos� is much more impressive than the Genie Effect. You also have to make sure that your computer is equipped to do Genie justice though. I’m using a Dual 800 G4 at work and it’s a bit sluggish so I don’t use it.
Besides that, not everyone is as impressed as they should be. I remember a couple years ago when a friend who’s a PC users came to visit and I was getting online so he could check his e-mail. He saw the dock icons jump to attention (I wasn’t even showing off!), but instead of saying “Cool!” like I expected, he said “I don’t like that cartoon crap.” What a downer that was.
Truthfully though, I’ve been a huge proponent of pushing OS X in their ads instead of how cool the box looks, but right now they’re having trouble with demand as it is. Advertising might hurt them more than it would help until they get their manufacturing woes in order, but then they’ve been around for years, so who knows?
Oh and I forgot to mention. On my TiBook I’ve always had the dock on the left side. It seems like a waste to have it on the bottom when you’re using a wide screen.
CONSPIRACY THEORY: Microsoft has a deal with Apple that they will produce MS Office for Mac on the condition that Apple will not advertise how good their Operating System (including the GUI) is.
Sorry to get a little serious here guys, but people these days don’t pay much attention to advertising. They know ads have been paid for.
Instead what really works is editorial (which can even be “purchased” like advertising). In this regard, with the iPod and G5 iMac, Apple is doing a fantastic job of getting their products reviewed in the media, and that’s worth much more than advertising.
Phew, enough of that – back to the silly me.