Location-based operating system concept: “Locus OS”

Just as I’m about to leave for Mobile World Congress, an interesting video caught my attention that seems to be more timely than ever considering Microsoft’s upcoming announcements about its future mobile strategy.

The video by Barton Smith, a designer from Australia of all places, appears to be a prototype UI for a conceptual “Locus OS” which is described as a “location-based operating system”. What makes it special is that it appears to be Microsoft branded, however without any background information I can’t say for certain if this was commissioned by Microsoft or not.

The video itself presents some very interesting concepts, the main focus of which is a multiple “desktop” arrangement that is location-aware – giving you flexibility in the widgets and applications you see based on your location and what you might be doing. Although some elements of the UX appear inspired by the iPhone, Palm Pre and Android, the designer points out that this was created in 2008 making many of the ideas original at the time. Nevertheless, definitely worth a look.