“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
Advertising has always been a sore subject for me about Apple. It seems that we’re the ones doing the advertising for Apple with our own Macs and we don’t even get paid for it. Apple commercials suck big time and there is nothing anyone can say that will say otherwise. Mac commercials are like inside jokes to us Mac users because we are the only ones who understand them. I have always said that I wish I could be Apple’s CEO for just 24 hours. I would have a dozen or so commercials in the works displaying OS X in a heart beat. But thats just me.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Genie effect does serve a purpose by showing where the window is minimizing to – ie. down there to the dock. For a new user to the Mac OS, this subtle pointer makes it easier to navigate the GUI. Long-time users often find the extra eye-candy unnecessary, but Apple has the wisdom to offer the option of turning most screen effects off.
Personally I think Apple would be better off pushing the ease of use factor, lack of viruses, adware, spyware (some computer users assume these problems affect all computers), and the wide variety of applications that work seamlessly – even with Windows’ environments.
Eye-candy does (to some) make a computer look more like a toy and helps to perpetuate the myth that Apple doesn’t make “real” computers.
HAHA this is living proof of why Apple is as bad as Microsoft
To Peter above who was reminiscing about “suck”…
You can get it back with Tinkertool. You can set the minimizer effect to either “Genie”, “Suck In” or “Scale”.
I’m with Mac Beth, I love my dock but on the left hand side.
i hate the genie thing, scale all the way
Look at the iPod ads, they don’t show anything about the interface, and that woud include iTunes. Though the first iPod ad and the animated poster one did briefly show the iPod interface at work.
Maybe Apple is waiting for Tiger, with Core Image, there will probably be much more of that usefull eye candy integrated into the OS. Things like the cool Dashboard ripple effect.
These features are wasting my CPU time and storage space. Don’t users have better things to do with computers?
“Oh and Peter rather than function keys for Expose’ you might try hot corners.”
Yeah, I know. But I end up hitting them accidentally. Guess I’m just too spastic.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Expos�. But I usually have to stop and think “How do I use this?” which keeps me from thinking about what I’m trying to do. So I just go to the Window menu and pull up the Window.
Actually, my favorite is CodeWarrior’s Minimize all windows–sucks all the code windows into the dock before running the app. I wish Xcode had that…
I like the dock.
I keep it hidden and small on the left side of my screen with magnification turned on.
I find that this lessens the chance of accidently engaging and drawing it out onto the desktop when using scroll bars (no wide screen yet).
I also like the way icons will bounce into the frame from their hiding place to get your attention when needed.
I switched to Macs earlier this year and without a doubt OS X is the most powerful, stable and attractive UI available. I had no idea working with a computer could be such a pleasure.
I got a friend to switch recently after showing him how well my Mac works and the “eye-candy” played a part. His thinking was that if they pay such attention to little things like minimizing a window, then the stuff underneath must be good too.
After just a few days, he is enjoying his new iBook and declares he will never go back.
~M
The common criticism of eye candy is that it’s unnecessary. That it has no function. But the whole idea of a GUI is eye candy, using metaphors to access complex functions.
We should stop calling it eye candy, which is seen as negative. It’s visual feedback. It’s valuable information. The genie effect or the puff of smoke aren’t there to look cool, they’re there to inform you of the results of your actions and to tell you where that thing has gone.
So you may have meant to hit close, but without visual feedback, you might not realise that you hit minimise by accident.
This stuff may seem like surface glitz, but it does add to the overall experience.
trippah:
You are absolutely correct, people should be doing better things with their computers.
Apple will be releasing a 64-bit OS with Spotlight et al in 2005. Microsoft says that they will release the first beta version of Longhorn in 2006 – more than 10 years after Microsoft first promised to release Longhorn.
My bet is that Mac users will always be doing more because Apple gets things done. Windows users will continue to be dreaming more because Microsoft lacks vision and is technologically inept.
This site has many Mac users who think every PC on this planet has Windows installed. Its like they are constantly dreaming about Microsoft while they are on their Macs.
Who needs expose when you have virtual desktops!