Nealry two years ago, we and others reported on Apple’s patented “Piles” (Apple’s patent was filed in 1994), and the rumors that Apple would bring “Piles” to Mac OS X, which didn’t happen with “Panther.” Some MDN readers also suggested at the time that “Stacks” would probably be a better and more-palatable name for the feature than “Piles.”
We provided a link to a flash demo from Piles Preview creator Richard Das who showed his impression of how the rumored feature ‘Piles’ would work here.
Now, we see from Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows that Longhorn will feature, “Stacks” (screenshot) which “will help aggregate content by such things as authors, keywords, type, and so on. You can then group Stacks by various properties, such as name, size, modified date, type, or authors, in order to provide multiple relevant views on the same data.”
Is this “business as usual” for Microsoft or are Longhorn’s “Stacks” an original idea?
Full SuperSite for Windows’ article here.
[Thanks to MDN reader “Tom V” for alerting us to the Longhorn “Stacks” information.]
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther ‘Piles’ screenshots posted online – April 26, 2003
The Register goes deep inside Apple’s Piles – April 23, 2003
Mac OS X Panther ‘Piles Preview’ author comments on rumored ‘Piles’ implementation; can’t do this on Windows – April 17, 2003
Readers not happy with ‘Piles’ name suggest Panther ‘Stacks’ instead; link to preview ‘Piles’ here – April 16, 2003
Preview shows the promise of rumored Mac OS X Panther ‘Piles’ – April 15, 2003
I’m with Stacks Not Needed
Stacks seems to be a cross between Pilles and Smart Folders
Ooops, “Piles”
Mr Wonderful ” Yeah, so it sounds like MS, at least they can actually create their own OS. “
Obviously not so “Wonderful-ly” aware of OS history:
The latest Windows lineage is based on Windows NT which was based on VMS and RSX-11 (DEC): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT
Mac OS X is based on NexTSTEP which dates back long before Linux was created!
MW is hair, as Mr Wonderful should be pulling out his hair at this point!
I think this piles/stacks thing is pretty cool… although really it’s nothing more than a way to view a folder (imagine the folder as an invisible rubber band honding the stack together). So I’m not sure how particularly useful it would be, although I can think of a number of uses for it, but pretty much all of them would involve simply replacing a subfolder with a stack.
However, it would be cool in an eye-candy sort of way to pull this together with effects like in Expose. As in, you click on a stack and all the documents in that stack whiz across the screen in expose-like fashion and you pick the one you like.
Unfortunately, that seems about as useful in terms of GUI design as the growing icons in the dock… they way they always change positions make it take longer to interact, just as the changing documents in a stack would alter the position of the others. That, I suppose, suggests that stacks would be most useful when you are dealing with a limited number of often-referred-to documents that should be grouped together.
Actually I just wrote a paper recently and it would have been nice to have something like this… I stick the stack alias on the desktop, click it once, select the document of the half dozen documents I was using, and be done with it. One click on a stack, one click on the document which would appear in the same place everytime as it was Expose-like exposed on the screen. Sure would beat the two clicks on a folder (assuming I put an alias or the folder itself somewhere easily accessible) and then finding it in a list.
Actually, the more I blabber on about this the cooler it sounds. That flash animation would definitely need an update to Expose, zooming up to nice large graphics to make GUI interaction easy. Now if you really wanted to make GUI interaction a cakewalk, instead of needing to click on the icon itself, the screen would just be divided into so many squares, with as many bordering the edges as practical. In my case, 6 documents, 3 on top, 3 on bottom, taking up the entire screen when I click…
That’s it, I take back any negativity I may have had before… this is a good idea. BRING IT ON!
beats me –
that’s what column view does. you click on the folder, and everything in it neatly pops up. any other sort of option wouldn’t be any quicker.
people say we mac users like worthless eye candy…
MDN magic word: “aid” – as in “Windows is AIDS for computers”
Mr wonderful – YOU AINT!
What makes a pc sheep like you post on this forum anyway??
In denial I reckon…
Bravo Thorpedo!! It’s good to know that someone else out there knows a bit of Unix history. You would also note that I said Unix, not Linux. Unix was created in the late sixties. What you should have said is that OS X’s interface was based off of NextStep’s. The dock, and all that other crap is there too. Apple making OS X is much different than what MS did with NT, MS started off in a partnership with IBM, it ended, they hired people to help them finish it. end of story. Apple took NextStep’s interface, wrote their own version of unix and called it a day. Big whoop, Apple still sucks. Of course you will all bring up OS/2 pretty soon also. I’ll use a Mac, if it is formatted and has linux installed, but you should all realize that your OS is a piece of shit. I’ve gotten one bluescreen with XP, one. You know why there is a bluescreen? it’s so people know why their computer crashed, you dumbshits don’t have that do you. My points are as follows:
You idiots know nothing about hardware, mostly because there there are three things you have to know apout your computers, G3, G4 or G5. You all must be half retarded if you can’t even understand the fact that MS has more on it’s plate than apple. MS develops an OS that is made to run on several types of hardware, which is where the errors and such come from, HARDWARE. A person with half a brain can diagnose a driver problem and fix it. Needless to say people who use Macs get scared to death if they get an “illegal operation” or “Windows cannot find the following files”, the reason for that is because if an error happens in OS X if there is a notification, there isn’t anything you can do about it, so you morons won’t know anything until your computer actually kills itself, At which point you will all install your crappy OS again and wait for it to go bad again. You must all use your Macs for drawing pictures and listening to music too, because I doubt there is an app out there that can actually put any kind of stress on your computers hardware. So, shitty OS, stupid people.
Mr Wonderful, I’ve use such a wide variety (seriously) of operating systems that I barely make a distinction between Linux and UNIX. I’ve run several different distributions of Linux (PPCLinux on my Powerbook, Debian, Suse and Redhat on various “IBM”-PC-boxes) as well as umpteen Unix variants (AIX, Ultrix, Irix). GNU/Linux provided access to a “Unix-like” OS and further stimulated the creation of open source packages but is otherwise fairly unremarkable compared to most other “Unix-like” OSes. I trace the heritage of UNIX right back to the late 1960’s: PDP (DEC) heritage in fact.
Your “history” of OS X is incomplete … it is an evolved version of UNIX
(and I mean all of the components, kernel, OS, GUI):
It is based on the Mach kernel and the BSD implementation of UNIX, which were incorporated into NeXTSTEP, the object-oriented operating system developed by Steve Jobs’ NeXT company after he was forced from Apple in 1985.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X
Windows (NT and later) has more of a VMS heritage but it is not well evolved from a GUI perspective nor from a security perspective. The latter is surprising since VMS is such a secure OS.
Ill-informed and rude comments are un-neccesary in this forum. MW is “high” as in one should prefer to take the high road rather than grovel in the gutter.
WOW!!! I did not know that!!! Thank you so much for imparting me with this knowledge.(that was sarcasm douchebag)Trying to say that windows is not secure is probably the number one excuse I have heard from people who don’t care enough to actually do something about it. An “evolved” [sic] version of unix would still be unix though right? Almost, that’s the same as saying that the NT command line is DOS, it isn’t. Unix and it’s variants are amazingly secure and stable, but OS X is the Unix equivalent of Windows ME, try to do anything other than go on the internet or check your email and it locks up. Thank you Apple!! I have used Apple systems before and thought them alright other than the fact that every 20 minutes I would have to reboot. Debating on what OS X “is” is really easy to sum up really fast- it is just a buggy piece of crap.
YOUR ALL HOMOS.
Way to go genius, after all your attempts to overcome your learning disability you go and embarrass yourself. And look, you’ve almost mastered a device as simple as the keyboard. Let me give you a little help there, Corky. You see, the caps lock key is that on directly to the left of your a key. All you have to do ismove your pinky. Oh darn, and there are two other keys that seem to elude you, the ‘ and the e. I’m afraid that’s all the more I can help you. You people need to help youselves sometimes, you know, to feel empowered(or less retarded).
you macheads are so biased its hilarious.
serious, the most insecure group of fanboys in the world. The OS wars are LONG DEAD. If anything its PC vs Linux, with MacOS being a distant last.
oh gee whiz i guess microsoft isn’t allowed to add any new features that remotely look like macoses… well if the macos is better as most of you will claim, why can’t Microsoft improve its own os? Are you guys all about restricting OS improvements in the name of loyalty to one company? I believe the answer is YES. You guys desperately want to hold on to any bit of superiority you can. This Piles/Stack argument is a waste of time.
– in the event this post brings on a flood of backlash, all I can say is Xerox got JOBBED.
that’s right, this guy knows what’s up. you guys are stuck too far back to realize that no one gives a damn about your stupid OS or what you think about anything. Piles sucks too. I’m still trying to figure out the reason for it. We have folders. what else do we need?
I’ve never met a windows-only user who wasn’t biased against Apple/Mac. MrWonderful is a shining example of a typical Windoze luser… resorting to insulting comments ’cause there is nothing else to say. You people need to keep in mind that almost ALL mac-users are familiar with Windows as well, out of necessity. And the reason for that is simply that Wintel boxes have historically been cheaper (you get what you pay for anyone?). Please don’t go on about system superiority when even our medical appliances that run embedded windoze systems have been infected with viruses.
In actual fact, apart from security issues neither system offers superior “features” – except the GUI which mac users find superior (keeping in mind they use both OS’s). Typical example: compare Apples iChat to MSN Messenger 7. iChat sports a lean and functional interface, while MSN is a mess, with multiple tabs i can’t get rid of, all asking me to pay to install emoticons, themes etc. Really, is MS so stuck up for money??
Everyday users don’t care about heritage, UNIX, etc. Everyday users just want the machine to work with near to zero-configuration so they can get on and do what they need to. A shining example of this is the Kensington wireless remote for presentations – this works without any configuration on Wintel/Apple systems which is what all platforms should strive for.
At present Apple is closer to this than MS… but Windoze-only users don’t see this, and keep hoping for the next big OS to solve all their problems. It may well do this, but that remains to be seen.
At the end of the day, “best” is what works for you, and for those who use both OSs this is most frequently the Mac. No need to insult mac users just because they prefer to get things done rather than tinkering endlessly with their OS.
Windows-only, no. I spend half my time on linux, in fact I am typing this out right now on linux. “Typical Windoze luser”, no. I prefer to call myself a “master of windows”, I suppose that anyone who has so much as touched the mouse of a mac would be called a “master of mac” mainly because there is not much there to master. When you refer to PCs as “wintel boxes” I assume you are refering to something like a celeron based PC with barely enough RAM to get the os loaded, those are cheaper than your typical POS mac and, I am sorry to say, outperform them quite well. I would like to agree with you in one respect, you do get what you pay for as far as PCs go, especially if you are willing to cough up money for a new system rather than the 2 year old PC that is on clearance. You mac users are constantly tying an os to the hardware. While I do think that windows is better the reason I posted here in the first place is because you people know nothing of the world of PCs other than Windows, which is your reason to stay with the mac. The few things you can do in OS X are extremely simple to do. The hardest thing I have found about OS X was installing it, and there was almost no difficulty there. It was like installing a program in windows, select where you want to install, click a few things and walk away. MSN messsenger does suck, as does Internet Explorer. Everyone knows that. I think that the fact that you say “everyday users” to describe morons who don’t actually know what OS they are using is hilarious. To me, everyday users are people who know enough about their OS to use their computer everyday. People like this will be the ones most likely to be in IT, and they are the people who will choose the systems. I am 99% certain that these people would choose the PC, the only case when they would choose a mac yould be when they need a computer for video editing and such. Servers would also be PCs, linux or windows is irrelevant, and I hope you would all drop the “Windows vs. Apple” argument because the winner will always be whoever is on the PC. If for some reason Microsoft dies, the PC would still be the system of choice. As for your comment “At present Apple is closer to this than MS… but Windoze-only users don’t see this, and keep hoping for the next big OS to solve all their problems. It may well do this, but that remains to be seen.” I would like to know what you mean by that. Name the problems, if you can. Most likely you will spout the same old things “blue screen, viruses, blah blah blah”. And I was not insulting mac users because of their choice of OS, I was insulting them because they are too dim to realize that most people could care less about their choice in OS, and they still bitch about how they prefer it over windows even though it really doesn’t matter. That would be because PC users would not like a bunch of pompous douchebags begging them for help when/if they decide to switch to the PC. I imagine that would be something like “help! I’m being overwhelmed! there are too many buttons on my mouse! Oh god!! These little boxes keep popping up!” and this would all end with me taking pity on you poor souls and handing you a copy of “Windows for Dummies” and showing where the F1 key is.
MDN magic word: ‘member’ – as in “you can all suck mine”
MrWonderful:
Well then… I’ve used Linux – in fact have complied the K desktop on my mac with all the bells and whistles, but in fact i fail to see the point in it. I mean I did get excited ‘n all but then what? In the real world (i.e. where computer techies and pseudo-techies don’t live) it’s pointless. It takes hours to configure (and yes, i know it’s significantly easier nowadays), and you’re left with programs which are free, but generally substandard compared to their commercial counterparts (with some exceptions). Which is fine if you’re fooling around on a limited budget, but really not for serious/professional work. For my uses this means that even Windows is more suitable than linux. Linux just keeps getting in the way of what i’m doing.
Unwittingly, you’ve just pointed out why the Mac OS is superior: There is almost no learning curve to the OS. Even you can “master” it.
However, I do wonder why you think Windows is superior, what in fact are the many more things it can do compared to the mac? I can’t think of single thing my PC desktop or PC laptop can do that my Macs can’t. Please enlighten me. No, really.
The above is also the reason why IT people while almost always choose Windows: There would be very little work around if they had to support macs. The tech support industry (and the hospital i work in is the greatest example of this) thrives on dealing with things that should be easy to deal with but aren’t on Windows.
As for problems with Windows, security is the main issue for professional use. I cannot risk keeping sensitive medical data on a PC connected to the internet in any way. Then there are a number of things that don’t work, or don’t work as expected, such as networking – this is a major source of problems at my workplace.
We all understand that the increased complexity required to support multiple hardware standards is a major reason for such problems, and yes Microsoft has made significant improvements in this area. But the question is why should i bother? When i can use a machine where hardware and OS are tightly integrated to give me a better experience, really why would i?
And if XP is so perfect, then why are windows pseudo-techies drooling about Longhorns (now reduced) new features? I think i recall you proundly stating your were running a longhorn alpha. You are obviously looking forward to a better experience with XP. On the other hand there are things you can do with a mac that you cannot with Windows. Check out the automation features and search technology in the next (imminent) release of Mac OSX.
Outside hobbies (overclocking etc) and gaming, I see no advantage to Windows OS. But please prove me wrong.
you just proved one of my points, you attacked linux briefly, then went right back to windows. I said PC not windows. Longhorn will be better than XP, but I see no reason to change based on the pre-alpha(build 4074)mostly because it comes with everything turned off, and I have only enabled the more important features. Am I looking forward to longhorn? Uh, yeah. Are you looking forward to Tiger? the features outlined in that link are hilarious, as I have been using programs that are very similar to Spotlight and dashboard for close to a year. Automator is useless, unless you need to get images etc., in which case that can also be done in windows. I also love the “Unwittingly” part of your post. You make it sound as though I didn’t know I was saying the mac wasa computer with training wheels. Imminent in quotes is quite funny too. It almost seems that you think Microsoft wouldn’t actually release another OS. “outside of hobbies” Everyone knows that overclocking a mac would be like putting a supercharger on a weedwhacker. Does that comment also mean that you can overclock windows? Or that overclocking can only be done with Windows? “I cannot risk keeping sensitive medical data on a PC connected to the internet in any way. Then there are a number of things that don’t work, or don’t work as expected, such as networking – this is a major source of problems at my workplace.” that would be because your IT people are morons. Firewall, decent routers, and antivirus/spyware apps. It would be extremely easy to implement this sort of thing on even the largest of networks. It’s insane to blame problems that are clearly not the persons fault on the OS. You probably aren’t even running 2000 over there either. and I would like to know how linux keeps getting “in your way”. Does that mean that you got confused or the OS jumped out and physically kept you from doing anything?
MrWonderful:
There you go again, taking a defensive posture. I didn’t “attack” Linux, I pointed out why I feel that it is not “ready for the prime time”, a sentiment which is not unheard of even in the Linux community (/. etc). When i say the system “gets in my way” I mean that I find myself having to spend time fiddling with the system rather than doing work, since my previous explanation obviously wasn’t clear enough.
All our hospital systems running windows are Win2K or XP, and you are obviously a lot more clever that our entire team of IT experts who run into trouble every few weeks trying to keep things running smoothly. I am a doctor, and even I have been known to get more sleep than our main IT staff, who have spent entire weekends (48 hours) trying to fix things.
Automator is useless?? you may fixate on downloading images since that’s the example on the website, but in fact this applies to any application that supports Applescript, which is over 90% of modern apps. Don’t be a tool.
As for spotlight, please show me a search tool on Windows/Linux that will search URLs, Address book, Files/meta-data, calendar events, etc in one go and present the info in a useful way. No, really, I could use this on Windows.
But my real question remains unanswered: What does Windows, or even Linux for that matter, do that OSX doesn’t? – Your quote was “The few things you can do in OS X are extremely simple to do”. So what, Oh Learned One, are these other things?
PS: Learn how to use the “return” key.
“As for spotlight, please show me a search tool on Windows/Linux that will search URLs, Address book, Files/meta-data, calendar events, etc in one go and present the info in a useful way. No, really, I could use this on Windows.”
Its called Google Desktop Search.
I never said that there are things on a pc that you can’t do in OS X. What I should have said (actually it’s what I did say) is that things run better on a PC, even ports of different apps on similar systems. There have been studies on this. Maximum PC and MacAddict did a joint study on it last year. The PCs came up on top, way on top. Of course the MacAddict editors were not happy about it and commented on how it took two high-priced PCs to unseat a dual G5 mac, while this may be true, the margins were so great that it wouldn’t matter anyway.