Eureka?

I have a product idea.

What if there were a desktop editor (well.. not really a desktop editor), which could act like a gimp or a photo editor for whatever is being viewed on your screen. I mean like editing the screenshot. It should not be like just a text, or a photo, or a whatever specific editor, but a universal editor. Ok, let's call this (whatever it is) -- the editor, for the time being.

Now, what the editor should actually do, is act like a function toolbox, as in, say Powerpoint. What should essentially happen when you double-click the editor, is -- it should be there hanging like a spaceship (like those toolbars in Powerpoint), or maybe get embedded in the taskbar -- but that's not what the issue is. The issue is -- now whatever one can view on the screen should be editable. So, if I am viewing a webpage, and I need to encirle, mark, smudge, add a text box, or a special shape box, or whatever other function a photo/any editor has, I should be able to do that on the screenshot. And also remove it whenever I wish (Not like idiotic Microsoft Paint, which has no memory of how whatever looked like a while back).

This could be done by adding layers over the screenshot, like in gimp (that's why I mentioned it in the start, see I know my stuff!). So imagine you are reading a webpage, or a stupidly uneditable pdf, or two documents in two windows each sharing the screen, and now you feel the itch to draw connections between the documents. No sweat, just open this editor, encircle stuff, draw arrows, mark stuff, write implications, and bingo. Save it!

Later, someone else comes by when you are reviewing it all, and proves something you have written as wrong or incomplete. Swear whatever you wish against him/her. But no harm, get the editor, erase the stuff, write new implications. Done! Go wash your hands! Simple.

Well, potential problems:

1. What happens when you are viewing a document which extends beyond a page (which invariably is the case), and you need a scroller. How does this editor work then. Do you take several screenshots and keep marking and saving?

2. I guess you'll save it as an image, or whatever way a photo editor saves its stuff. Does that invite any problems while re-editing? Well, we're working with layers here, with or without merging them (as your choice), so what's the big deal? Whatever.

3. I do not know how to make it, neither do I wish to. :D

I just wish such a product already exists. It seems like a typical "Duh!" idea to me. It looks very useful, and simple enough for anyone to get the idea to make it. So is anyone out there who already has it? Or shall I just sell it instead?

Who said great ideas happen in a bathtub.

The Great.