Google Acquires BumpTop Desktop

TuringTest writes "BumpTop, a company that provides a multi-touch physical desktop metaphor, has been acquired by Google and made to 'no longer be available for sale.' BumpTop provides a direct way to handle information through simple gestures. Some media see this acquisition as a movement by Google to position against the iPad. Will BumpTop be ported to Android?"

Wouldn't Chrome be more likely?

[gig]

It's desktop software, right? Isn't it written in C? Doesn't work on Android, right?

Re:Wouldn't Chrome be more likely?

[Aranykai]

My guess is they wanted the patents. We are likely looking at the future of multi touch on android as well as chrome. A lot of this seems to be mutli touch just for its own sake, but some of these seem genuinely useful.

Re:If it's like their other acquisitions

[JidsDB]

That's what I'm thinking, but I have the feeling that it won't really be used on computers anymore - more likely in Chrome/Android netbooks and slates, although using it to navigate a TV interface would be kinda cool. Placing the different options where you want them, grouping files by type - MKVs, AVIs, etc. or perhaps by program, put Planet Earth in that corner, Heroes, House, and CSI in that corner, etc. I just want to know why they don't want it to be available to the public anymore, because it had a lot of awesome features.

Bumptop = Microsoft Bob?

[whackedspinach]

I am always interested in any attempt to move away from the classic desktop UI design, as I'm not convinced it is the best interface paradigm. I tried to use BumpTop for a while though, and I just couldn't see the appeal. It was certainly a novel idea, but I thought it was about as useful as Microsoft Bob. I'll just stick with Rainmeter on Windows for now (not that Rainmeter is the easiest thing to use). I bet that this is a patent thing for Google, as I can't see them really designing Chrome OS or Android with this interface.