Prototype software shows possible future of Window
InfoWeek | at | by Mike
Microsoft researchers have built prototype software for better Windows management and for sorting digital photos that could influence features in the next desktop version of Windows. One system lets users drag windows on their PC desktop into a "focal zone" to enlarge tasks they're working on. Peripheral tasks sit near the edges of the screen, where their icons are grouped by project. The software is designed to take advantage of a new graphics system code-named Avalon that Microsoft is developing for its release of Windows in 2005, code-named Longhorn. It could be the future of task-switching in Windows, says Mary Czerwinski, a senior researcher at the company.
Another project, called MediaFrame, lets users organize digital images according to their content using face-recognition technology and algorithms that can distinguish types of scenery in a photo. The group is working closely with Microsoft developers building Longhorn, says Dan Ling, a VP in Microsoft Research.