Pythoneer

Of course I had seen the newest features of Leopard that Apple had shown yesterday at WWDC 2006. And for one night I was sure that they had built the same thing that I had wanted since I have a Mac. But Apple’s Spaces are only virtual desktops - bummer. My Spaces2.0 is not only a virtual desktop switcher. No, Spaces2.0 let’s you really switch between working environments. One Space in Space2.0 is like another Mac on your Mac. What? Let me explain as I would use it in real life.

My Work-Space - is my Mac with my opened Mail.app, Safari, IRC, Console etc. and all the applications that only relate to work. So

• the E-Mails I am reading are only those that I receive from my work accounts,
• the chat contains only the chat rooms I am using with my colleagues,
• Safari only shows the pages I opened while surfing for info related to my work
• and the Console does only show all my work in progress, that I am doing on the command line.

This does not allow any private E-Mail, Chat, News or what-not to interfer with my working life. I completely switch as if I had one computer only for my work, which has nothing to do with my private computer. buying two Macs just for that reason would be quite stupid, expensive and twice as much to carry :-).

My Private-Space - is my Mac with my opened Mail.app, Safari, IRC etc. and all the applications that only relate to my private activities. So

• the E-Mails contain only the private mails from my family and friends,
• the chat rooms I am in are only those I visit for my personal fun
• Safari shows only the pages I personally like to surf on.

There is no work related application opened, I don’t get distracted by any co-worker’s E-Mail or chat-query, while uploading my private photos and planning our next weekend trip. No, Spaces2.0 let’s you separate your lifes as it should be.

Why?
I am using my Powerbook as my exclusive computer, I am doing my work on it and my private stuff. Currently I have things separated by using either separate projects (in my editors, for programming) or by using Mail.app for my private mails and Thunderbird for my work mails. And I am also trying to open certain browser windows only for work related stuff and others only for private interests. But this kind of separation is very hard and work intensive to do. And I only got one chat client and one Skype installed, so when the icon starts jumping in the Dock I still don’t know if someone wants something from me related to work or privately.
That I want to separate. My Skype for work would only have my Skype contacts that are work related, all my family and whatever would not see me, since I am not online for them. I wouldn’t receive private E-Mails since I am not checking my private accounts but only my work accounts.
This separation is just what leads to less distraction and being able to better concentrate one the one current thing. There are many articles describing this syndrom of news-addiction. Spaces2.0 would be the cure.
And virtual desktops have to be a feature of each of my Spaces, of course.

May be I should tell Apple about my dream