Product Reviews

Whether you own a Mac or PC, the chances are you'll be using some variation on the Desktop design to browse your files and folders. Ever since Apple unleashed the original Mac, this method of accessing documents has reigned supreme, with the most radical departures being Mac OS X's column view in the Finder.

Despite this being a standard method, some people argue that there are better ways to explore a hard drive. 3DOSX, for example, offers OS X users something rather different from anything Apple or Microsoft has to offer, and while it's not exactly revolutionary, it claims to be the 'only 3D file browser that doesn't suck'.

Great view

Our first impressions were favourable. A number of Finder features and system actions are supported by 3DOSX, such as copying and pasting files, and moving them to the Trash.

File information is also supported, although the Get Info dialog box is radically different from the Finder's, looking rather like a bubbly skin from an MP3 player. While interesting from a visual point of view, it can't display file names longer than about 20 characters. Neither does it give access to the same level of information provided by the drop-down menus in the Finder's Get Info dialog box.

A more useful departure from OS X's Finder, and something that may interest former Mac OS 9 users, is 3DOSX's support for labelling files. This is done in the same way as in OS 9, although applying a label several times has the curious effect of making the file's icon darker each time. Rather more annoying is that you can't search by label types, as there's no system-level support.

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Still, for those used to working with coloured icons, this feature will undoubtedly be useful.

File navigation is certainly an experience with 3DOSX. Initially it's fun, and you'll find yourself opening multiple folders just to watch the platters expand all around the screen. The visual representation of folder hierarchies is practical, too, with folders linked to their parents using semi-translucent, coloured, flat panes.

However, once you get down to work, you'll find navigation is often troublesome and unintuitive: you really need to use a combination of the mouse, keyboard shortcuts (to cycle platters) and a drop-down menu that provides direct access to each platter.

The inability to drag and drop files between platters hampers file management, and using keys to move the camera becomes superfluous when you realise that it merely moves a set distance and snaps back to its original position once the key is released. It would also be useful to see the camera view move to the front of an icon when you click on it.

Despite the navigation being somewhat clunky, 3DOSX's biggest problem is its speed. Although it requires little processor usage and memory, Mac Warriors suggests it needs a high-end graphics card to run smoothly. Our test machine (a 466MHz G4 with 16Mb VRAM) struggled at any resolution beyond 800 x 600 pixels. Decreasing the colour depth didn't help, either: when set to 'thousands', 3DOSX left luminous green rectangles where any menus had previously been.

Navigate crasher

Unfortunately, 3DOSX has some way to go before it's as effective and efficient as the OS X Finder. When forcing itself to full screen, it leaves gaps at the bottom of the window, and won't sit behind the Dock. It often feels cumbersome, like you're running something in addition to your usual setup rather than in place of it.

Despite this, it's an interesting curiosity piece and highlights the dated file browsing nature of today's operating systems. Perhaps in a year or two it will mature into something that will be a potential replacement for the Finder.

Needs: Mac OS X 10.1, and an OpenGL hardware accelerated video card (supporting OpenGL 1.2 or higher)