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moonmonkey · Jun 15, 2003, 12:34 AM

Hi,

Im working on this little app.
Basicaly it takes a screenshot of your desktop and sets the image as your login screen (user Picture) image.

So you can see you desktop before you login.

Let me know what you think anyway, please give suggestions and be kind, its only a beta.

Link is in my sig.

Thanks.

icruise · Jun 15, 2003, 10:05 AM

What would this be used for?

chabig · Jun 15, 2003, 10:57 AM

I think it sounds like a neat programming trick, but I don't think it would be useful.

1. Generally speaking, my desktop usually has nothing on it. Everything is filed using folders.

2. On a single user system, why would you ever be logged out?

3. On a multiple user system, why would you want to breech security by letting the world see what your desktop looks like. And why would you want to see others' desktops.

4. Shrinking the desktop to the size of a user picture can't possible look good, can it?

5. Why would I want to see the desktop before I log it? What's the use? If I see the desktop first, will I decide not to log in?

I still think you should go for it. Just for fun. But I don't think it's a useful idea.

Chris

zos · Jun 15, 2003, 11:10 AM

I saw this program today on Versiontracker I believe. My first thought about it was "cool, but WHY?" I see my login panel about .1% of my total computing time, the rest is spent using my computer and enjoying the long uptimes OS X provides. I'm the only user on my machine anyway. How does the screenshot look when changed from a large rectangle to a tiny square?

chabig · Jun 15, 2003, 12:56 PM

Perhaps a neater experiment would be take a screenshot of the login window and use that as the Desktop background.

sushiism · Jun 15, 2003, 03:42 PM

if the user icon also becomes the user icon used in ichat maybe its useful then

well fun but not relaly useful

moonmonkey · Jun 15, 2003, 10:28 PM

Originally posted by zos:
I saw this program today on Versiontracker I believe. My first thought about it was "cool, but WHY?" I see my login panel about .1% of my total computing time, the rest is spent using my computer and enjoying the long uptimes OS X provides. I'm the only user on my machine anyway. How does the screenshot look when changed from a large rectangle to a tiny square?

The reason I made the app is I thought that its cool in VPC the way you see a minimised version of the saved desktop before you log in.

I wanted to impliment this on the Mac, I thought at first it would not be usefull, just a gimick, but after installing it on all 3 users of my machine it actualy is very interesting.

You can compare the way people work, the kind of desktop picture they have where they keep the dock, how many windows and other clutter they have open, its the only time you have everyones desktop next to each other to compare, so it gives you a good idea about their personality.

This is no use for single user machines, or machines with hundreds of users, but for a family or group of friends its great.

The image scales very well and maintains the aspect ratio of your screen, you get a feeling for the desktop without any real detail.

Im working on new features for the next version, thanks for the feedback.

Powaqqatsi · Jun 16, 2003, 06:52 AM

It's nice, but only if we have multiple logins like in Windows XP. Now it's quite useless. Wait until Panther

(I hope it has this feature)

moonmonkey · Jun 16, 2003, 07:09 AM

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
It's nice, but only if we have multiple logins like in Windows XP. Now it's quite useless. Wait until Panther (I hope it has this feature)

Do you mean multiple simultaneous logins?

Thats the main reason I released it 12 days before WWDC.

So I could claim Apple copied me if they impliment it.

zos · Jun 16, 2003, 01:55 PM

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
Do you mean multiple simultaneous logins?

Thats the main reason I released it 12 days before WWDC.

So I could claim Apple copied me if they impliment it.

Haha! Now I see that you had good reason to release this. Thanks for the details.

Powaqqatsi · Jun 18, 2003, 06:06 AM

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
Do you mean multiple simultaneous logins?

Thats the main reason I released it 12 days before WWDC.

So I could claim Apple copied me if they impliment it.

Yep, I meant multiple simultaneous logins

.