Almost four years after the WinFS project was effectively canceled and the dreams of many demoralized Microsoft enthusiasts shattered, a small independent software development firm called Yellow blue software (or Green software for short) is reigniting a fragment of the WinFS vision in a well polished and lightweight Windows software called “Tabbles”.

Simply put, Tabbles is a relational file management tool designed for the Web 2.0-era. It allows you to organize and find files not just by folders but by tags and relationships – one of the many unfulfilled promises of WinFS.

The reason why relational file management is compelling is the fact that files in a file system usually have more meaning than just the folder they belong to.

One dilemma most computer users have probably encountered since DOS is not knowing which folder a document should be stored under for convenient access. This also happens to be the problem the Yellow blue software founders frequently ran into which inspired them to create Tabbles late 2008.

Although I do think the idea needs to be more integrated into the Windows shell to really work well (maybe what Windows 7’s Libraries should have been), nevertheless if you ever wanted to get a taste of what a WinFS-powered Windows Explorer would have been, then take a look at Tabbles. There’s even a handy portable version that requires no installation for a quick snack.

Additional reading: The developers have an insightful post detailing the evolution of their GUI design for Tabbles that’s well worth a look for any UX enthusiasts.

Looking for super-talented Silverlight developer to make this a reality. General feedback welcome.

Update: Keep an eye on http://www.metrotwit.com/.

From last week’s Microsoft’s MIX10 conference I got my hands on a dozen copies of the Windows Phone 7 Series “Metro” book (still with that new-book smell) ready to give away.

With a word count and font-size comparable to most childrens’ storybooks, this is the perfect read for those who aren’t particularly fond of thick books like myself. There are 47 pages of thrilling backstory uncovering what is Metro and where it came from, complex character development of Anna and Miles, and something every book should have; pictures, lots of pictures.

Here’s your chance to own one of 12 early copies of what is set to top this year’s best-seller list. To enter,

• Submit at least one comment to this post (only one counts)
• Please ensure you use a real email address so I can contact you
• Be a resident of United States of Anywhere in the world
• Entries close 31 March 2010 AEST

Entries now closed. Winners will be notified soon.

Bill Buxton always leaves an impression when you see him talk. Recently at the closing keynote of Microsoft’s MIX10 conference, Bill explored the concept of it means to be “natural” in the context of natural user interfaces (NUI).

Whilst it was an interesting presentation – Bill’s larger-than-life character is hard to miss, I don’t think some of the points came across very clear which is why this new 8-minute video by Microsoft Research is a must watch for all user experience-enthusiasts.

If you’re looking for a quick bite, skip ahead to 2:08 in the video where there’s a very interesting concept and prototype demonstration on how we can make panning and zooming virtual documents more “natural”. Without spoiling how, it really makes the multitouch equivalent seem like yesterday’s technology.

It was not a question of if, but when. The Windows Phone 7 Series emulator ROM has been completely unlocked revealing more of the preproduction mobile operating system Microsoft didn’t want you to see.

Dan Ardelean who has been tinkering with the ROM for some time now has published a modified version of the “BIN” file which removes the locks Microsoft’s put in place to hide other components of the ROM.

Although there is definitely a lot to explore, to be devil’s advocate I must remind everyone that Windows Phone 7 Series and this ROM in particular is still a very early piece of work and the components in this emulator demo is not representative of what the final product will be. Play with it, have fun with it, but don’t build expectations on it.

Contrary to the controversial report out of Microsoft MIX10 this week that Windows Phone 7 Series will not feature copy & paste functionality, a person close to the den explained that copy & paste is definitely a scenario and feature that the team is putting a lot of thought about and hope to bring to the platform soon after initial release.

Let’s not forget Microsoft already knows at least one way to do copy & paste from Windows Mobile, but this was one of many scenarios they want to refine to fit in the context of their new user experience which already has a lot of “smarts” for automatically connecting data between applications – for example, detecting and hotlinking addresses in emails to Bing Maps.

As it turns out, the development team actually knows exactly how they will be implementing copy & paste in WP7S but did not believe it could be implemented without affecting the release schedule they’ve committed to and therefore will be including it in an update down the road.

I’m sure they can deliver it sooner than Apple did it (2 years).