Slashdot Mirror
A Close(r) Look At OLPC Human Interface Guidelines
feranick writes "There have been a lot of articles on Slashdot about the OLPC project, most of
them regarding the hardware, the social impact or the cost of the
operation itself. However the software development,
specifically in the GUI didn't get so far much attention. This
blog summarizes some of the OLPC
global interface guidelines. You will see that what is really
new in the laptop is not the laptop itself, but the completely new idea
behind the design, where instead of applications you have activities,
documents are now journals,
'application bundles can be signed by
whoever works on them — because
there is a view source key on the keyboard,
anybody can modify an app
and distribute it'. It really looks like if this is successfully, we
could see a new breakthrough in GUI design also in mainstream PCs: "This
UI is quite simply one of the deepest and most interesting redesigns of
the desktop user interface ever produced. It makes MacOS look like what
it is — boring and unoriginal.""
Let's keep in mind that this entire project is still completely vaporware. I won't believe that any of this project is actually possible until I see it. Right now, it's still just a PR whore (Negropointe) making shit out of thin air.
In fact, I'm starting a new project. It's called the "$10 automobile project". The first guidelines for it is that every $10 car must 1. Fly 2. be able to be fueled by any substance, including garbage, rock, dirt, air, and water. 3. Navigate itself based on what the user is thinking he/she would like to go, and coordinating with the on-board GPS navigation system.
OK, now somebody write some news articles about me.