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Top 8 Reasons HCI is in its Stone Age

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the some-of-this-is-debatable dept.

UltimaGuy writes "This Editorial describes 8 reasons why HCI (Human Computer Interaction) is in its stone age. It laments about screen corners, filesystem, GUI Design and also 'spatialness'. "

6 of 547 comments (clear)

  1. The four corners of Mac OS X... by shawnce · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just to clarify what is built into Mac OS X by default...

    In Mac OS X, built into Mac OS X 10.4, you can trigger any of the following from any of the four corners of the main screen.

    1) Expose - All Windows
    2) Expose - Application Windows
    3) Expose - Desktop
    4) Dashboard
    5) Start Screen Saver
    6) Disable Screen Saver

    Also on the main display (the one with the menu bar) you can slam the mouse into either of the upper two corners and click. On Mac OS X 10.4 the upper left corner brings up the "Apple" menu and the upper right corner brings up "Spotlight". The later allows typing for spotlight search without having to click to gain focus.

  2. Re:computers: still not for lay people by cerelib · · Score: 3, Informative

    Install Microsoft's Antispyware program. It is a good app that I did not use until I put it on the computer I was giving my dad. I had installed it and then went to install another app that wanted to load something at startup. Microsoft Antispyware popped up a dialog informing me that the app was trying to register a new startup program and asked me to confirm. This impressed me and prompted me to put it on my own computer.

  3. Re:computers: still not for lay people by pg133 · · Score: 3, Informative


      Google is your friend

    Removing Balloon PopUps in Windows XP

  4. Re:computers: still not for lay people by Txiasaeia · · Score: 3, Informative

    Start -> Run -> msconfig -> Startup tab. You're welcome.

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    Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
  5. Re:Pet peeves... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Informative
    I don't know how many times I've accidentally erased my latest diatribe by inadvertently paging backward on Slashdot. Good grief, at least put the function behind a modifier key.

    This is not a problem with the existence of forward and backwards buttons, it's an issue with their implementation. With Safari, I can hit back, then hit forward and still have the text I entered in this text box remain here when I get back. Remember Raskin's first law:

    A computer shall not harm your work or, through inaction, allow your work to come to harm.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  6. Use the 4 corners!? by gg3po · · Score: 3, Informative

    From TFA:

    "After more than 20 years of research, development and competition in the field of HCI, not one single leading operating system developing company has come up with an OS that utilizes the four corners of the screen."

    This guy's obviously never used Symphony OS.

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