My BumpTop: Bumped

Back in January, I posted that I was invited to the beta of BumpTop, which I was sincerely excited about, having seen more than a few videos covering the concept.  Unfortunately, I’ve uninstalled BumpTop because I’ve come to the conclusion that it is just not for me.

In my original post, I noted that it would take some effort to change the way I use my desktop.  BumpTop, while very well thought out, and a genuinely original idea both in solving a problem and implementation of the solution, doesn’t fit well with how I personally use my computer.  This is not BumpTop’s fault.

For decades I have been using computers with different OSes, desktop orientations, window managers, looks and feels, constantly searching for “Desktop Nirvana”, which is to say the desktop state that mixes function with style and elegance while taking into account an optimal amount of practicality.  In other words, I’m all for eye-candy, as long as the eye-candy serves a purpose, even if that purpose is simply a “cool” factor.  As with all “cool” factors, it comes at a price, whether it be slower screen refresh rates like a 3D desktop [see Compiz], or more CPU resources consumed [see Google Desktop], or possibly even reservation of a portion of desktop real estate [see Rainmeter & Enigma].  BumpTop, on the other hand, seemed to not be so much eye-candy, but actually be more functional than cosmetic/stylish.

The problem BumpTop attempts to solve is that of desktop organization.  The analogy is a physical desk with papers and magazines sitting on a desk, in piles, with each item spacially relative to other items on the desk.  This is a brilliant way to see the problem, actually — arrange things spacially however the user of the items uses them, rather than “in a grid”, or “in a folder” as modern desktops coerce users to do.  For example, if I place things into a folder, and keep the folder on the desktop, yes I can organize the items, but I can’t SEE the items until I open the folder. However, if I organize things into a “pile” such as a physical pile on a shelf, I can SEE what items are in the pile without actually doing much at all, and I know which items are in which piles, whereas if they were in folders I would have to open each folder until I found what I was looking for.

This is all great in concept, and in implementation, and is precisely where BumpTop shines.

But, what if you’re like me, and have been organizing your desktop the same way for years?  Ever since Windows 3.0, I have been organizing my desktop to reduce (or eliminate) clutter, more or less in the same manner.  Along comes BumpTop, blazing the way in desktop organization, and I have almost nothing on my desktop to organize.

So what do I do?  I start putting things on the desktop!

I quickly found that while BumpTop solves the problem, I didn’t have the problem it solves.  This became quite annoying for me, partially because I had to adjust my way of doing things on the computer, but also partially because BumpTop is not a desktop — its an application.  BumpTop does not *replace* the desktop, but sits on top of your normal desktop, and hides the desktop that the operating system (Windows) provides.  The desktop that comes with the OS is optimized and made to mesh with the rest of the operating system.  BumpTop is a 3rd party application that acts as a go-between, wedged in the middle of the original desktop and YOU.

While the concept of organizing things on the desktop into piles, groups, and the like, is a sound concept that is proved through its use, the fact is that it is still “just another application” that has to interact with the desktop/operating system.  This makes it slower than your original desktop, and vulnerable to crashes, bugs, and other nuiances like computer resource reservation, installed applications are vulnerable to.  In other words, BumpTop solves a particular problem, but the solution comes at a cost.  The cost is running another application all the time that hides your original desktop — It does not make your original desktop go away; it only hides it and helps you organize things in a more “human” way.  This makes the application slower than if it was the desktop itself, which would elminate the orginal icon-laden desktop altogether.

Interaction with BumpTop was much less responsive than with the original desktop.  Keeping in mind that I only tested the beta, and things are bound to get better overall, BumpTop will still remain an application and not a full desktop replacement that completely eliminates the original unorganized workspace.

…an application that does not solve a problem for someone like me.

Since I have mentioned it, I’ve been using Enso, which almost completely eliminates the need to have icons on the desktop at all.  After a few keystrokes, I’m using whatever software installed on my computer, whether I have a desktop icon for it or not.  It has become second nature in the way I interact with my computer, so much that I have found (don’t laugh) that when Enso isn’t running, for a few seconds I enter a state of panic because I have forgotten how to launch the application software I wanted to use.  Caps Lock, O, “Open:  “  Fire — “Firefox? Mozilla Firefox?  Windows Firewall?  OpenOffice.org Impress?”  Amazingly, “Firefox” is usually at the top of the list, because Enso has remembered the last time I said “Fire”, Firefox is what I wanted.   If I want to run Photoshop, I just Caps Lock, type O, then type “photo”, and I see a list containing: “Adobe Photoshop CS4?, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.2?, Photosynth?, Windows Photo Gallery?, etc”.

When Enso is not running (because it crashed, or hasn’t fully launched yet), I do…
Caps Lock…   Caps Lock light is now on.
Uh oh.
Ok.  Firefox is on the “Quick Launch” bar, so I’ll just click that.
I need to run Photoshop, now.  Caps Lock…  Caps Lock light is now off.
Uh oh.  Umm….   ok, I think its in the “Start Menu”…   Start ->  Adobe….  something…  oh, there it is.  Adobe Photoshop CS4.  Got it.  Luckily.

For people like me, who have pretty much always organized their desktop, BumpTop, albeit a wonderfully thought out piece of software, is probably not for you.

For people like me, and even people not like me, I highly recommend Enso.  BumpTop and Enso are not competing products, and solve completely different problems, but they do both help with the human-to-computer interaction immensely.