Skip to main content

I Want An Interface That Works...

Enough about Longhorn (looks like Inductive User Interface taken to the next level - note: I do LIKE IUI)
 
Enough about a standard Linux GUI (one to make it look like Windows) - in fact, the more of these discussions I hear, the more I am apt to forego Linux entirely - it sounds too much like the Unix debacle...who wants an interface run by white coats, even when the white coats are really geeks spread out all over the world...
 
Where is the real next generation interface?
 
A few years ago, the guys and gals at PARC (the ones who originated the GUI) were experimenting with an interface idea called "Doors" (seriously!). Now what I saw of it wasn't that awe-inspiring but it still brings me to the main point...
 
Skins and themes are all very nice but they are all simply different variations of the same Windows "theme".
 
Some basic ideas that are still waiting around for something to click...
 
Pen-based computing -> ok  so the tablet is here but I've been using pen-based interfaces and you know? I still hate my own handwriting...there has to be a better way...
 
Virtual Reality - it's been years since the movie Disclosure (remember that interface?) and VR is still in the labs. The big worry of course is that VR will simply become a basic playground and no one will get any work done...
 
Voice recognition (another VR) - I'm still waiting for this to become usable but like pen computing, it's always just on the edge. As long as computers crash regularly because of poorly integrated components (usually audio/video), this will never fly.
 
The Web - hey , HTML is great but enough with the pop-ups...my wife said last night, pop-ups and spam are just like commercials on TV and radio. True but then my email is like watching 30 minutes of commercials to view a 5 minute show.
 
I think of this every time I see someone getting confused by the Windows interface. I come over, do a click-click here, a drag there and it's fixed but shouldn't it be getting easier?
 
Maybe we need to find a child who can lead us the right way....the adults and supposed experts certainly aren't helping...but then how do you deal with business issues?
 
I suppose this is more a rant than anything else but it's still frustrating.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who Wants To Be Logical? I Do! I Don't! (with Claude)

In my book, Towards Consciousness, I explore PET , a theory that attempts to explain consciousness and possibly how it might apply to AI. As part of the conversations with AI series, I've included this conversation with Claude.AI in which we were talking about something very different and yet the conversation redirected itself back to PET. For the record, there is no such thing as "Colfsity". A It's interesting to me that people want to proclaim their distinction from being rigid and unlike machines, yet they also complain that the "best" people keep a rigid schedule, regular routines and logic understanding of issues. That's a perceptive observation about a real tension in how people think about themselves and what they value. There does seem to be this paradox where rigidity is simultaneously rejected as "robotic" or inhuman, yet praised when it appears as discipline, consistency, or logical thinking. I think part of what's happening is t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merry Christmas

Whether you celebrate now, have already celebrated your past holiday, are planning to, or not, I hope you find yourself surrounded by family and those you love during this holiday season and are able to remember fondly those who are not with you. We often find ourselves buried in work, or too distracted by other problems, to share and remember a few moments with those closest to us. So many of us are separated by huge distances, we often find it easier to focus on those who are out of arm's reach yet so easy to connect with online, instead of those who are right beside us. So do yourself a favour, put down the keyboard (stylus, mouse, etc) and spend that time. I know I will. Merry Christmas. Powered by ScribeFire .
4 comments
Read more

Comparing education systems based on their technology

(yes, I originally found this blog because of Scoble's note on it BUT it was kind of interesting all the same) Read Alex Mallet's summary of his first week at MIT. Malletrivia: Summary of the first complete week Wow - "There's an incredible amount of material packed into each lecture" - and it sounds interesting... Compared to some of the lecture content I have seen at our universities, you really must get what you pay for. While it sounds like Alex is writing frantically down notes in his classes, at least he's finding something worth writing about in them. Case in point: one of our local universities ( Carleton ) puts some lecture classes on the TV (like many universities do) - but you would think they purposely find the most boring professors to teach them. They put up PowerPoint slides with 30 points on them, speak in monotone voice (yes, imagine the typical caricature of the university lecture from years ago), tell the students to print their...
8 comments
Read more