Here is an interesting topic that we can all relate to, what will the future of OS skinning bring? Here are my thoughts.
Animated desktops have been starting to gain popularity among PC users. But what about other animated elements, such as animated icons, state-of-the-art button rollovers, like with zooming & blurring when highlighted, and animated titlebars, and taskbar buttons. With the introduction to DeskScapes for Vista, the idea of having an animated desktop became more of a reality.
The future of animated wallpaper, may be that instead of playing a looping movie all the time, the wallpaper may become interactive, meaning that animated wallpapers may eventually become an actual 3D environment. For this to happen, future OSs will need to support layered wallpapers so objects or hotspots can become separated from the backdrop. For example, when you point the mouse at a certain area or object on the screen, the wallpaper leads you to the object or area specified.
And if that's not enough, these next-gen wallpapers may have stand-alone objects programmed in them, (i.e. in a space wallpaper, a spaceship or a planet) which will when clicked, lead users to their destination (i.e. Windows Explorer or Web Browser). This may ultimately replace desktop icons completely. Having a 3D navigated desktop is still far away from now. This will allow users to navigate through their desktops in style. But, a stand-alone program such as DeskScapes will need to support this type of 3D Animated Wallpaper.
What about layers? With Windowblinds 6.2, skin elements now support layers. Layers are images stacked on top one another, such as when you stack sheets of paper together. I bet by the time Skinstudio 7 or 8 comes around, skins can be entirely animated, from menu backgrounds to explorer backgrounds, and from titlebars to tabs.
As I mentioned before, desktop icons may become extinct, but for Windows Explorer, icons and folders will have animations and layers, such as a rotating globe for Networks, or Internet, and when highlighted, enlarge and display other effects, such as glowing, fading, etc. Icons may become 3-Dimensional.
What will desktop PCs look like in five, ten years from now? Please share your thoughts. It would be appreciated.
