Making Computing More Human-Centered

buzzdecafe writes "Interesting article in InfoWorld about the future of interface technologies, e.g. pointing your finger to move files around, etc. The story focuses on MIT's Project Oxygen, which aims to make computing more anthro-centric. (Check out the Visual Interaction stuff.)" We've written about Project Oxygen before.

Comments

Only for "power lusers"

[shoppa]

While these new user interfaces are great for those who want to further enhance the Point-and-Drool experience, I don't see how they generalize to the degree of expression you get from more traditional command-line interfaces.

I mean, renaming a file to a new directory by pointing your finger is fine if you just want to rename one file. But to suggest that this is an improvement over the command line if you've got thousands of files to shuffle around is completely ignoring the computer's ability to do mind-numbing repetitive jobs quickly and accurately. Instead it's insisting that a human interact at every mind-numbing repetitive step. This is not progress, people!

Only works with good one-mouse-button GUI model

[Anonymous Coward]

This only works with good one-mouse-button GUI model.

Ehen a finger is used to drag, press, select, tap, double tap, e erything is fine on a touch sensitive 2005 AD flat-mat computer.

but OSes that require multiple mouse buttons mandatorily as part of GUI (all osses except NeXTStep OS and the MAcintosh OS) will be left behind.

Why?

because as Steve jobs predicted (and I) back in 1982... a computer will never know WHICH FINGER you used.

Unless it knows WHICH FINGER was used to tap with, only GUIs that are based on a one-mouse-button priciple can be truly integrated into these futuristic computers that are nothing more than flexible flat dinner-mats (no physical keyboard, just a temprary video overlay keyboard if needed at times.

i have mentioned this 4 times on slashdot, once every year or so.

Nobody seems to undestand why I keep warning people to remember to use one mouse button in designs so that we can progress.

If you never used a mac or NeXT, you will never understand how a gui works well with one mouse button so dont bother flaming this. You need to try it for a while to understand that 3 4 or two button mice are not good to demand as minimum GUI design principles.

PS in 1985 a head mounted ultrasonic eyeball-mouse

[Anonymous Coward]

In 1985 a head mounted ultrasonic eyeball-mouse existed for the mac.

It was patented, and soon the patent runs out. A human neck is VERY VERY steady and accurate. Tape or fuse a broomstick to a human head or helmet and see how non-trembling and steady a long rod is. Well this ultrasonic pinted was a three resceptor ultrasonic headband receiver that extrapolated what the user was looking at on the screen and MAGICALLY moved the mouse to wahtever they looked at!

It cost about 300 bucks for the mac version that had a cord running to headband. They never released a cordless version. The cord was a miserable shackle because suddenly standing up, if forgetting the cord, or kicking back away from the desk on a rolling chair ... BOOM you accidentally knock everything around that the cord interferes with as you yank it.

Again.... a single mouse interface works best because if they aever added "strong-blink" detection for a clisk or some other clamping mechanism based on jaw angle the computer gui would run flawlessly.

Single mouse button designs allow all sorts of non-messy input methodologies.

Re:what is human centric?

[Oily Tuna]

who decides though, what is human centric?

The user.

The article is a red-herring. The future of usable interfaces lies in making it behave the way you want, not the designer.

The MIT made an interface where you move things with your finger. Good ... for some people. Others might feel more comfortable interacting in other ways; speech, mice, etc. etc.

Usability research is excellent, improvements are always welcome, but it is still the software producers saying "this is the interface you have to use".

When you can interact fully the way you feel like at that moment will be when computers are human centric.

Re:The QWERTY keyboard is still king!

[PotatoHead]

You are right on with this. I have been working with a design package called FreeForm that uses the new Sensable Technologies Haptic input device.

Being able to feel your model has significant advantages, but there is one subtle downside. You get *tired* quickly. One can run a MCAD or ID design package all day with a mouse and keyboard and not blink an eye. The haptic will leave your arm sore after a few hours.

Personally I feel we have not done near enough with audio input...