User benefits

I have many times talked about the advantages of Screens for developers such as a consistent data model and easy multi-threading design but I haven't talked much about what Screens means for users. Well this is a chain reaction in that if its easier for developers to code applications, there is a better chance for them to code better applications. But Screens is about more than that: Users are becoming more and more dependent on thier devices and as such require reliability. Currently if you forget to save your document even on a PalmOS device, its changes are lost. In Screens this cannot happen because even if you are editing a remote document, the changes are still stored locally. You do not have to fear that if an application dies, because any data it holds still stays consistent. Mobile users want to get to things fast and not have to wait for applications to load thier resources. Screens allows users to have as many applications as they want open and switch between them quickly and easily. This is done by automaticly switching applications resources into memory as needed. Even if a soft-reset or you close Screens to run another PalmOS app and return to Screens, it stays exactly the same way you left it... windows, controls and all. Users want Security, Screens will allow to encrypt objects by the user, so unless you log-in via your user profile, the files will stay encrypted. Decryption is done on the fly so there is no need to decrypt all objects, rather only the object you use. Because Screens is multi-tasking, it can decrypt your objects while still allowing you to work. Users normally work on a single task but sometimes they want to branch out to multiple tasks. Current systems are either single tasked like PalmOS, Windows Mobile and Symbian or multi-tasked like Windows, MacOS and Linux. The problem with single tasked OS's is that you are limited to only a single task at a time while the problem with multi-tasking OS's is that you are forced to be multi-tasked and even if you are only using a single task, it does not mean it will use the entire display surface. Screens solves this by its default being a single task design so you only have one document window displayed on-screen but allows you to drag its title to detach it from the single document model and allow you to move it around. This means that normally you deal with a single task but if you want to put two documents side by side, just drag thier titles to each side of the display and they will align themselves automaticly. These features are not used by any other operating system but provide the ability to 'have the power when YOU want it'. Screens goes further... When you are dealing with a document, you can delete the document even if it is open. Screens is smart enough to close the document window before deleting the document file. You can also rename, move or copy a document even when it is open. You dont need to close it and activate the file browser just to rename the document. With single and even multi-tasked systems you still have modes where you are limited to a certain functionality. Screens has a free modeless design where even when the Open dialog is displayed, you can still edit the document that is currently open. If you close the Open dialog and re-open it, it is shown exactly the same contents, so closing dialogs is usefull not just discarding. If you see the Delete warning, you can always edit your document, duplicate it and then click yes to delete the original. This allows you to start tasks when you remember them even if you only want to carry them out later on. Screens doesnt use scrollbars... it rather uses 'user context in the center' design where the center position is the active position and everything around it is scrolling. So for example: a list control that displays 9 items, the 5th item is the active item. Tap any item apart from the 5th item and it will scroll that item to be the 5th item. This makes scrolling more dependent instead of just a static bar which you drag up and down. Some cellphones use this design in thier menu systems, I am just using it interface wide. While this does mean extra taps sometimes, its more work flow oriented - taps is not what matters, its the work flow that matters. These are just a few of the ideas that Screens environment will give users to finally give them power to take advantage of thier device. The zen of computers is not dumbing down interfaces but rather making powerful features simple. Its always easy to remove elements, the question is can you make elements more efficent.