Google Bumptop

Google may have plans to apply a fully three-dimensional interface to some of their services or perhaps even their own Chrome operating system after the news appeared yesterday that the software giant has purchased Bumptop, a system designed by university student Anald Agarawala for his Masters Thesis in 2007 which overlays a 3D interactive ‘desk’ onto your existing desktop environment.

BumpTop hasn’t been above the radar too much but Anald’s brainchild got a publicity boost in 2008 when his product was demonstrated at a TED seminar, after which people downloaded the product for free.

Before long Bumptop, which allows the user to interact with desktop icons as if they were real physical objects, piling them, stacking them, making them larger or smaller, and even pinning them up on virtual notice boards, became two versions, one free, and a paid-for Pro edition.

So what does Google want with this service? Am I going to wake up one morning, launch Google Images, and find myself staring at a pile of thumbnails strewn untidily across a virtual floor, the search box pinned to the rear wall? Or perhaps Google will do something useful with the product like mixing it with a tablet iteration of Android, before pre-installing the result onto a large touchscreen device and throwing it onto the market? The rumours and possibilities are endless.

‘Today, we have a big announcement to make: we're excited to announce that we've been acquired by Google! This means that BumpTop (for both Windows and Mac) will no longer be available for sale. Additionally, no updates to the products are planned.’

That’s Bumptop’s website by the way. Feel free to share your opinions by leaving comments below or even your ideas for Google Bumptop’s future! Thanks for reading,

Steve :)