Animated desktop wallpapers to come via the name of "Motion Desktop", AXP Exc. Options

[Bryant]

As disclosed and confirmed by multiple sources: One of the new UI features being added to Windows Vista during the blackout time leading to RTM is currently known internally as "Motion Desktop" and could very easily retain this title as its final name. It will allow for the end user to run an animated or interactive desktop wallpaper to complement the UI already present in Windows Vista. The Vista SKUs which will contain this new feature along with the degree of customizability the end user will see in creating his own Motion Desktop are as yet unknown. More details as I have them.

Internal discussions seem to suggest that interactive Motion Desktops should be able to integrate with relative ease into various Windows Live services, and one can expect third-party and first-party Motion Desktops to be displayed on a Live gallery similar to what is currently in use for sidebar and live gadgets.

Update (10-24-06): As confirmed by Paul Thurrott, Motion Desktop will be an Ultimate Extras feature only, and it will be rolled out in January 2007, and will not be much different from running a screensaver as a wallpaper (similar to Long's screensaver application) as internally confirmed by Michael.


Source: In-House

[Aeden]

Motion Desktop? Christ, Desktop Aurora sounds much sexier and more appealing than that. If I were them, I'd be hiring a new set of PR dudes... .

(looking foward to those updates =)

[Bryant]

Motion Desktop? Christ, Desktop Aurora sounds much sexier and more appealing than that. If I were them, I'd be hiring a new set of PR dudes... .

(looking foward to those updates =)

Well it's not just Desktop Aurora which will be animated. There will be different interactive desktops. An example might be cherry blossom flower pedals falling from a cherry blossom tree.

[Aeden]

Motion Desktop? Christ, Desktop Aurora sounds much sexier and more appealing than that. If I were them, I'd be hiring a new set of PR dudes... .

(looking foward to those updates =)

Well it's not just Desktop Aurora which will be animated. There will be different interactive desktops. An example mght be cherry blossom flower pedals falling from a cherry blossom tree.

Yeah, alright, I get what you're saying. But still, come on - "Motion Desktop"? It doesn't have that interesting ring to it like, say, "Phodeo" or something might. Granted, "Aero Glass" isn't all the innovative, either...

All things considered, though, it is nice to know there'll be more than just an aurora-ified thing coming to Vista's slew of "motion desktops".

[Bryant]

Thread cleaned. Dang, you guys screw threads this early?

[Karl]

the thing about animated desktops is the format:

- GIF is outdated, and rubbish
- XAML doesn't fit, and its not a great idea as far as performance goes. It's also a more develop-ish thing, so users can't easily create their own animated 'papers. I can't see them using XAML.
- MNG has no support in Windows. Never has had. APNG has no support in any OS AFAIK
- Windows Media Photo does not support animation, and is not widely supported enough
- The shell animation ("FTR") format is not open. A closed animation format for the desktop would not be a good idea.

There just isn't a good animated image format at the moment.

Edit: Scratch that, windows media photo (.wdp) does support animation, and is part of the standard windows codecs in Vista, and part of WPF. It also sports better image quality than JPEG with a smaller size. It may also support 3D rendering, but I'm not sure about that.

[aeroaddict]

As yet unconfirmed but disclosed by multiple sources: One of the new UI features being added to Windows Vista during the blackout time leading to RTM is currently known internally as "Motion Desktop" and cound very easily retain this title as its final name. It will allow for the end user to run an animated or interactive desktop wallpaper to complement the UI already present in Windows Vista. The Vista SKUs which will contain this new feature are as yet unknown. More details as I have them.

interactive ???? by interactive we mean that the program responses to user changes and behaviour....is there gonna be anything like that anyway if also there are directx mesh that are drawn in a 3d viewport, i think this has to hav advancements like collision detection......is that possible with dwm

[Midan]

Thread cleaned. Dang, you guys screw threads this early?

 I had this off-topic comment to say:

Darn, I probably missed all of the fun and nexus posting. .

Well, I'm glad that Vista will have animated desktops, but motion desktop is such a retarded name, reminds me of motion sickness for some reason.

[Guest_casablanca_*]

Motion Desktop? :S Will I get Motion Sickness by using it?
Anyways, no word on how it could be customized, etc. or use what format?

[Bryant]

Motion Desktop? :S Will I get Motion Sickness by using it?
Anyways, no word on how it could be customized, etc. or use what format?

So far, I have no idea on either subject.

[winlonghorn06]

This is good news especially if it is an open format. I would love to make some animated wallpapers. I would probably create one with Mario running in the background for starters. lol.

[raskren]

I got your Motion Desktop right here.

[Bryant]

I got your Motion Desktop right here.

Thats the first thing I got when I googled it too

[Rhys]

Why not use an actual video format, and use Active Desktop with a WMP plugin?

[peacho]

Why not use an actual video format, and use Active Desktop with a WMP plugin?

Ha! Active Desktop and REAL video! You have got to be kidding! For one thing, A.D. was popular with what, Windows 98? And secondly, can you imagine how many resources a video always on the desktop would take up?