3D desktop in the works: Interface can help computer screen mimic office workspace

A Toronto software company predicts within 10 years that people will interact with their desktop computers through virtual three dimensional worlds, and believes it is at the forefront of the race to shape that future.

3DNA founder Ken Deaton says the 2-dimensional desktop metaphor doesn't work for many computer users and that instead of simplifying things, it has made them more confusing and complex.

He says these difficulties were identified in the early 1980s when he was a student at MIT's Media Lab and Apple's Macintosh became the first major computer to use a graphical interface instead of typed commands to control it.

"Even back then, we foresaw major issues with menus and the desktop metaphor," the 42-year-old Deaton says. "It doesn't work: you have to navigate menus that are non-standardized from program to program, desktops are cluttered with little icons that don't resemble anything real, and you can't tell one from another."

Deaton believes his two year- old company has found a solution. 3DNA has built an interface for Windows that enables users to move about rooms in virtual 3-D building to manage their files, programs, and Web sites in a more natural way, interacting with objects such as printers and calculators that look like they do in real life.

Dubbed the 3DNA Desktop, the software is attracting attention from highprofile graphics hardware makers such as Toronto's ATI, and Taiwan's MSI, which are shipping the software with their latest PC graphics cards.

The software lets users load different themes or "skins" to change the look of the interface to anything from a Soho loft to a modern office to a futuristic space station. Users can also create their own skins to mimic their real- life (or fantasy) workspaces.

Eventually, Deaton thinks that just as people create their own homepages on the World Wide Web for anyone to browse, they will similarly put their 3-D "homeworlds" online and let others browse the digital version of their workspaces.

Combining entrepreneurship with technological innovation is nothing new to Deaton, who launched his first company, ISG Technologies, when he was 13 and listed it on the NASDAQ and Toronto stock exchanges and five years later.

The company, now renamed Cedara Software, is a world leader in 3-D medical imaging technology that uses data from 2-D MRIs, CAT scans and sonograms to construct 3-D models and images. The images help surgeons plan operations or let parents see the face of their child while it is still in the womb.

3DNA will launch the first full version of the 3DNA Desktop before Christmas. To get the latest free version, go to www.3DNA.net.

SALEEM KHAN FOR METRO TORONTO