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posted by Editor on Monday March 15, @05:11PM
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Anonymous Coward writes "Researchers at Nottingham and Sussex
university have developed a new kind of interactive wall display for community file sharing in public places, called Dynamo. The idea is for it to be installed in public places, where you just walk up and sit around it with a group of friends, connect whatever personal devices you may have on you (e.g. laptop, camera, smartphone, etc), and share multimedia with each other. What makes it different is that it's multi-user, so you all get your own coloured pointer on the screen. It's intended to provide a fast, easy and sociable way of sharing and exchanging files (from office documents to multimedia) while face-to-face. It also provides noticeboard functions, allowing you to post up items for others to take copies. It's a neat idea, a bit like a cross between a noticeboard, a jukebox and a multi-user desktop. The website describes the system in detail, offers a demo video, and the option to download the dynamo codebase, which was implemented in Java/C++." Here is some more background on how the system works, as well as some screenshots.
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This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
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by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 18, @04:54PM EST (#1)
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Wow, this looks like an awesome product. I've sometimes wondered why no one has attempted to create a multi-user desktop experience (multiple users at the same time on the same computer screen) -- this looks like a wonderful step in the right direction.
One negative point I have to bring up is this looks like a totally Windows-centric solution. I don't mind so much if the base software only runs on a PC, but it won't even interface with Macs for sharing purposes. So if I brought in a Mac laptop, rather than a PC laptop, too bad! And what about Linux users? Are they left out in the cold as well?
The good news is, however, that they intend to release this as open source under the GPL. This means that a port to Mac or Linux could be done by third-party developers. Too bad I'm not a C++/Java programmer myself!
Regards,
Jared White
The Idea Basket
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On the plus side, there is a very distinct server-side component which allows mutual interaction with user-supplied storage. I have an Archos Media player which does the removeable media double duty, which I connect to Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux machines (haven't tried older Mac). This would allow me a significant level of activity with the system, with the only limitation being that I use *their* interface, rather than a localized version on my machine - until, given the GPL'd nature of the code, a port is available.
This could be very effectively employed in fixed locations as well, but hopefully also extended beyond geography (with proper user/space management to avoid becoming deluged) to allow multiple physical site interaction to identical mediaspace.
All in all, this looks surprisingly mature and useful!
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by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 22, @12:15PM EST (#3)
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One thing I'm afraid of is this becoming a pirate's haven.
It seems to me that it would be hard to convince colleges, many of which have recently taken drastic measures against file sharing applications, to fight the gag reflex and consider installing one of these centers. One would have to be under constant supervision to discourage not just music and picture sharing, but outright copyright violation.
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