So Mandriva apparently is including a new 3D desktop named “Metisse” in their next release. It seems to be a real 3D thing, not like Compiz and Beryl which are just about some fancy effects for your 2D desktop.

However, I’m not convinced that this is a good idea.

First of all, many people have problems with thinking in 3D. “Engineers” like us are used to thinking in 3D, but many people are not. They might be better off with a 2D thing. Also supposedly 2D perception is easier for the mind, and should better allow us to focus on other things.

Secondly, optimizing display for 2D is much better. Many people won’t want to miss the crisp and sharp fonts we have today. Subpixel Antialiasing together with hinting does a good job at optimizing fonts for readability. Don’t exepct a 3D desktop to be able to offer this, as soon as you turn perspective you’ll end up with blurred fonts.

Instead I’d consider doing mostly away with the concept of resizable and moveable windows. Most of my applications (except my terminal windows) are running full-screen. If I’d be working a next generation Desktop thing, I’d be investigating application switching (Expose for example seems to be good), some intuitive way of automatically tiling windows (ion sucks, sorry) and making the concept of multiple desktops easier for users. IMHO that is one of the most powerful (and yet often unused) functions on our systems.

Note that metisse does seem to enable people to use multiple desktop a bit easier; I like their overview screen. I also like the “folding away” concept when temporarily marking text in a different window, but how is it supposed to know I’m going back to the previous window again afterwards? Most of what they show off is totally useless and has bad usability. Where is the actual use of being able to 3D-turn two windows? I can barely read the location bar of the browser afterwards! Just like Compiz and Beryl, they’re just showing off fancy effects, but I don’t see the usability benefit.

(I havn’t tried metisse, this opinion is solely from watching their demo videos.)

For example, I never need to move my windows around on a pixel-level. If I ever resize my windows away from their default size, it’s about having two windows visible at the same time. I could imagine having a window chooser such as Expose, and by selecting multiple windows with the right mouse button I can get a tiled view of them, as opposed to selecting a single window with the left mouse button.