By David Ponce

A few days ago, we brought you news of TopDesk 1.4, a great piece of software that reproduced on Win XP the nifty “Expose” functionality found on OSX. For those of you who only rarely come out from under your rock, “Expose” is a feature that lets you dynamically tile all the windows you’re using so you can find the one you’re looking for more quickly. It looks great, and helps with productivity.

Well, the guys at Otaku Software just kicked it up a notch with the release of TopDesk 1.4.1 The main difference? It integrates “Flip 3D”, a feature to be found on the upcoming Windows Vista. Matter of fact, some say that along with some cosmetic changes, Flip 3D is just about one of the few good improvements over XP.

Anyway, the software works like this. Upon the press of a button, or a mouseover of a predefined region of the screen, all your windows will resize, line up in the middle of the screen, and tilt sideways (like on the picture). Then, you simply flip through them (hence the name) with your scrollwheel until you find the one you’re looking for.

The animations are smooth and look pretty freaking slick. I’ve been using it for half an hour, and I have to say, I’m excited to have this piece of software on my PC. If any of your windows are minimised, then these will be transparent when lined up, and this too looks very nice. All in all, it’s definitely worth a try. It’s not freeware, but at $10, it is cheapware. Or perhaps, a-lot-cheaper-than-Vista-ware.

A couple of small things before you install. If you’re using Firefox, there is a small issue with keyboard shortcuts unintentionally activating the “find” feature. But this can easily be fixed with a quick workaround. Go to “Tools -> Options -> Advanced”, and under the “Accessibility” section, disable “Begin finding when you begin typing”. For more on this, go here. Also, try to make sure you’re running Firefox 1.5.0.1.

[TopDesk 1.4.1]

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19 COMMENTS

  1. Find as you type is one of the best feeatures of Firefox. I hate programs that claim fantastic new functionality but at the expense of something else.

    What the hell is wrong with Alt-Tab?

  4. […] Looks like these days we’re fixated on software, what with all the hoopla over TopDesk and such. Well, it doesn’t stop there. You have to hear about PawSense. For $20, you can allegedly fix whatever problems might be caused when your cat confuses your keyboard for a Dance Dance Revolution mat. As soon as erratic typing is detected, the program freezes all input and simultaneously emits a “sound that is annoying to cats”, to teach them to stay away. […]

  6. Le finestre in 3D per XP

    Se le finestre in 3D, unite alle trasparenze sul desktop, vi fanno letteralmente impazzire e sentite di non poter proprio aspettare per la prossima release di Windows Vista, allora perch? non provare TopDesk 1.4.1? Il nuovo fantastico programma de…

  10. expos?’s show all apps, show app windows, revealing the desktop, and show dashboard, all in a super slick interface, os x still kicks xp/vista’s butt…i feel completely handicapped when i go back to windows machines! does anyone know if this prog let’s you replicate the other expos? features?

  12. Fancy Alt-Tab Replacements

    I saw a link to topdesk 1.4.x software over on Digg which boasted to be an alt-tab replacement that mimicks what Microsoft Vista’s sexy composited alt-tab does. It’s now 5 minutes later and while it is extremely sexy, it’s about…

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