Project Desktops - whatever happened to that?

[Dave2002]

I've never really understood what Apple expects users to do with what they call desktops.

The only tool I've ever found which works for me is one which seems to be no longer available, called Project Desktops, though there is a trial which still seems to work.

Basically it allows you to name different spaces - let's for the moment call them Repositories, though PD calls them Desktops, and all the files which are littered all over the desktop screen space are swept away. It's possible to switch between these, and regain all the clutter if you want to.

This is immensely useful if you want to do a Zoom presentation, and are preparing a talk. You can work in one space, generate the presentation, then have the whole thing swept clear with the exception of the file or files you need for the talk.

I found various "explanations"/"apologies" for what Apple thinks it has done in sites such as Stack Exchange - https://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...m-be-different which suggests that there are other users out there who have addled brains like mine who either dislike what Apple has done, or just can't fathom out what one is supposed to do with this all.

On several occasions I have tried to figure this out, but in the end I nearly always just go to PD and get on with it. Life is too short to try to understand why Apple thinks users are doing this sort of thing "wrong".

I still have copies of PD which work on machines when PD was readily available, and I have found that generally these do transfer between machines. It might be available (and possibly supported) in the App store in the US.

It's not perfect, and there are still problems, but as a tool which solves more than 95% of problems, I'll take it.

See http://www.project-desktops.com/ - and this looks as though it's not been updated for years.

[Beresford]

The equivalent in Windows 10 is Multiple Virtual Desktops - win/tab or win/ctrl/D
It's also available for Windows 7, and indeed back to Windows NT.

See https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-u...in-windows-10/

[Frances_iom]

multiple workspaces have been in some flavours of Linux desktop for at least a decade + probably longer - even Android has something like it.

[Dave2002]

multiple workspaces have been in some flavours of Linux desktop for at least a decade + probably longer - even Android has something like it.

Yes - but how well do they work? Obviously (!!) I'm not doing things the way Apple want me to do things, but having desktops which have exactly the same clutter on each screen full is precisely what I do not want. The suggestion in one Apple "help" file (magazine article ...??) to go round changing preferences, options etc. - what planet are those developers on? It's just not the way to do it.

Alternatively, Apple and its devotees have totally failed to explain to me what I "should" be doing - with their system "as is".

That's why PD which actually does clear the screen is so much better. There are other problems with PD, but with enough storage space on a machine they are manageable.

[Dave2002]

The equivalent in Windows 10 is Multiple Virtual Desktops - win/tab or win/ctrl/D
It's also available for Windows 7, and indeed back to Windows NT.

See https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-u...in-windows-10/

How well do those work? See my comment in msg 4. I abandoned Windows years ago and largely did not regret it, but Apple have been making things considerably more cumbersome since. I'm not sure that I'd want to go back to Windows - even now it seems to be more of a pain than Apple's system.

However, I do know that in a commercial or organisational environment, where there is good technical support, and where most people are supposed to be working in a similar fashion on common platforms, that Windows may have significant advantages, but a large number of computer users are home users who are not in those kinds of places now.

[Frances_iom]

why don't you just try a modern Linux system + look at the various desktops available from Ubuntu, Gnome3 down to Xfce - most distributions are available as CDROM or usb memory stick version which require no changes to your hard drive - Debian offers a number of desk tops - you can load them all them select the one that suits you if desired.

[Dave2002]

why don't you just try a modern Linux system + look at the various desktops available from Ubuntu, Gnome3 down to Xfce - most distributions are available as CDROM or usb memory stick version which require no changes to your hard drive - Debian offers a number of desk tops - you can load them all them select the one that suits you if desired.

Because Linux doesn't have some of the software I want to run, or on occasions, "have to run".

I have tried Linux several times. I have never been convinced to stick with it in preference to other systems.

[Frances_iom]

Because Linux doesn't have some of the software I want to run, or on occasions, "have to run".

I have tried Linux several times. I have never been convinced to stick with it in preference to other systems.

Fine then you are effectively stuck in a walled garden controlled by another company whose interests are unlikely to be those most beneficial to you - Apple do appear to have decided to make the walls higher - I was reading, but can't find the quote, that Big Sur was originally going to be almost total lockdown but certain software houses complained. You made your choice thus you have to agree to the devil's terms.

[Anastasius]

Isn't Desktops in the same Bin as Launchpad and Mission Control...whatever they were supposed to do.?

[Dave2002]

Isn't Desktops in the same Bin as Launchpad and Mission Control...whatever they were supposed to do.?

Very possibly.

Project Desktops is still useful - though I don't know how long the trial version I put on our new machine will last. It does at least one thing which other tools don't seem to have managed. We have been running Zoom meetings for some while now - and while I/we think that Zoom does have problems, it's maybe the best that can be done right now. With Project Destktops it's possible to clear everything or most things off the desktop before the meeting starts.

For preference I'd like to have a PD desktop for specific Zoom activities, then develop a presentation in that. The presentation can then be run from that PD desktop, or if one is really fussy from a completely new blank one. One problem with tools such as Zoom is that showing the contents of a desktop can lead to privay violations - admittedly perhaps only from the very sharp eyed - as sometimes documents or emails not intended for the Zoom participants appear on the desktop, and if one switches between presentations these can be seen by others.

Regarding Linux and walled gardens - yes - but in the limit one has to have some software which actually works and is compatible with what other people are using. It's no good having a system which will only cooperate with a small section of our society who are tech savvy enough to use Linux or other tools.

My major concern about walled gardens like Apple's is that I don't trust the company (or indeed several other IT giants) whatever they say not to misuse my data. Apple's servers are almost certainly based in the US and very probably running on top of Amazon servers. What am I to do? Go and live on a remote island with only myself and a few sheep and cows to "talk" to?

[Dave2002]

Back to square one - though hopefully I'll fix it. Project Desktops is now telling me that the Trial has expired, and I should download a copy from the App store. I would certainly do that, but it's not available in the UK.

Yes - it has been useful - and I'll find a way of getting it installed again. Users in the US might find this easier. It's not perfect, but I've never found anything better. Apple's own "desktop" model is nothing like it - doesn't fit in with my work patterns at all, and unless there's some other way of using Apple's model which I've never figured, it's totally useless. None of the other "similar" apps in the App store get anywhere like what I want.

[Dave2002]

Re msg 11, now sent an email to the developers. I hope this gets a result.