Active Desktop, Flash, RSS and Ajax

Altheus

In the day and age of various Ajax/Flash platforms offering more flexibility than ever, maybe the disasterous Active Desktop has finally come around to some use. Personally I dont like things like Konfabulator, as pretty as they are, they are bulky and never do the job I want them to.

What I want to see, is an Active Desktop that I can use an Ajax/Flash based page, with simplistic elements such a clock, RSS feeds, my favourites and perhaps a flash game or two just for kicks. Also the idea of an animated desktop perks my interest, even if only for a few seconds!

I've done a review and found there are several sites doing this already...

Eskobo (www.eskobo.com/)
favoor (www.favoor.com/)
Google (www.google.com/ig)
Goowy (www.goowy.com)
Microsoft Live (www.start.com)
Netvibes (www.netvibes.com)
Pageflakes (www.pageflakes.com)
Protopage (www.protopage.com)
Zoozio (www.zoozio.com)

Basically what I'd like to do is a Flash based system, that's fluid, and designed by myself... so now for the bit you can respond to. Has anyone here done anything like this, or have any experience with this sort of thing?

I found this: http://www.multidmedia.com/software/glow/

It's seems like all I need to create a SWF based desktop, but any advice/opinions/examples on this sort of thing? It seems there are very few, I found Goowy (see above) and a Flash clock thingum but nothing of any real consequence...

rsynnott

Altheus wrote:

It's seems like all I need to create a SWF based desktop

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! Burn it!

Altheus

Lol, is it Flash or IE that you hate?

rsynnott

Oh, a bit of both, a bit of both. I can't really comment on IE, as I've barely used it in the last 4 or 5 years. But flash, yes, don't like flash. It has its uses. Those uses don't involve the desktop. Ever.

Altheus

I'd recommend you try out Goowy.com to see a good implementation of Flash.

Ajax would work, but with the visual stylings that flash would possess.