IT disciple

Take a look at this photo:
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/nb-remix-ff-notabs.png

This is a photo of a Ubuntu prototype NetBook version of the operating system. What I find interesting about the image above is that it basically combines the taskbar and the titlebar of the window. Today in both the Windows and Linux world most of the time (even in Linux) there is a title bar around each and every window. Most of the time this contains things like the name of the window (Notepad, Firefox, or otherwise) and it also contains things like a close and minimize buttons. Most modern operating systems also contain a task bar (or Dock in the case of Mac) that basically list open applications and allow you to easily switch between the open applications. I remember when Windows 95 hit the streets and really brought this function to the world. But I don’t think there has been much innovation in this area since then… until I saw this photo above of the Ubuntu NetBook idea.

I see it as taking the Firefox tab idea and bringing it to the operating system in the form of application switching. It really is a good idea and helps bring more screen real estate to the use of the application (be it a web browser, graphics program, document editing, etc.).

Needless to say I’m really looking forward to where the likes of ASUS, OLPC, Nokia, Apple, Microsoft and Ubuntu could take us in the coming years when it comes to mobile personal computing.