That's not bad, that's funny. The Australian government better keep it's tentacles down under, because if I catch them reaching across the water to my machine, I will have to create an international incident.
This article has attracted a large amount of comments and flames and this, and that, and the other, and discussions on 'foot mice'. Even the sanity of the author has come into question. Well, I'm going to say this, instead of attacking what he wrote and how he wrote it, look at the fundamental idea of WHY he wrote it. He wrote it because the interfaces he's kept to don't work for him. Many(most(all)) of us could have written a similar article(mechanics of writing aside) though skewed towards our needs and preferences. From reading his article, I'd say he wants some kind of weird 'layered' keyboard with the arrow keys arranged in concentric quarter circles to represent different kinds of movement. I, personally, think that sounds cool. And, if TC reads this, I hope he'll think it sounds cool too. The fact of the matter is, is that there is no progression further than vi for him. No one has written a better program for him, and no one has made a better keyboard to help him better access his old program. And no one has gone on and made a program/and/ keyboard to give him 'ultimate access'. He's moving onto some kind of exciting 'Star Trek' console that only exists in Sci-Fi! And everyone else wants 'foot mice'. I think his overall point was this: We need more options, both hardware and software when it comes to interfaces. And if anyone makes an input device with the arrow keys changed into concentric quarter circles(imagine a bullseye cut into quarters and turned so it opens forward at 90 degrees, maybe some height difference and twisting action so you can use multiple fingers, or being cut and spread out or something) I want one, and that's that. And he'll probably want one too. Maybe some people want a capslock the size of their space bar because they won't type any other way. They deserve this. What we need is full customatizable keyboards and workable mouse alternatives. Maybe a keyboard that is just a grid of touch sensors that you attach your keys to anyway you please and then map them would work. The 'idea' is great, 'ideas' are always great. But someone needs to get up and make that 'idea' a reality. I, personally, may tinker with the idea some and maybe try to cobble together a prototype, but what people need to do instead of getting 'ideas' and ranting about them is to present the product of these ideas or a plan for achieving them to the masses. I think, that if the author had unveiled some amazing VI keyboard he constructed in the middle of his article, even the VI-haters would applaud him. What people are flaming is that the 'idea' is only an 'idea' and that the 'idea' is tailored for the thinker's way of thinking alone. *shrug* Hell if I know. ...That's my rant. --Nimbus Qrygg, The One True Qrygg OS > Religion;
Re:The 'desktop analogy' is broken all over
on
Interface Zen
·
· Score: 1
If you wanted a nice gigantic desktop you could scroll around and situate your various programs in. You could try using the AfterStep window manager for X and setting it up for scrolling desktops.
Mine are about six screens big or so, two across, three down. When I'm working I generally have nearly a dozen xterms open and switch between them with varying frequencies. You can achieve an odd sort of 'Sliding GUI&CLI Zen' with such a set up, provided you configure everything to your preferences.
When working I switch from keyboard to mouse with little difficulty and slide from xterm to xterm, works pretty well. You become intuitively conscious of where all of your programs are located over the 2D space. Try it, it's worth it. It'd be nice if Windows had a similar interface. (Note: When not in X I just open a bunch of virtual terminals and leave it at that.)
I'm going to open this little note with two words: The Police. While 'lawful' in the sense that they are 'the law', the police may decide that you should be detained or your house should be searched without cause. I know the common 'Believe in the System' reply to this would be that the law protects you from such and that there are things such as warrants, it should also be noted that the law can't physically protect you from itself. I've been in Seattle for a week now, and I've watched The Police act more like a 'military presence' than the militaries of many small countries. They aren't armed with just sub-lethal though, they are all sporting semi-automatic pistols with extended clips. Throwing rocks at them, poking them with sticks, egging them, punching them, and yelling derisive things at them will accomplish one or both of two things: Thing one, sub-lethal weapons will be used against you. Either rubber bullets, teargas, pepperspray, or truncheons. Thing two, You will feel alot better after expending the energy. (You may also be arrested but when there is a mob of people doing the same thing it won't matter. Note: I don't neccesarily advocate violence against the police or private property but one has to do what one has to do when one has to do it. I'd rather see someone hit a police officer then see a police officer hit someone.) Now, lets say you take your fancy 'gun' and shoot a police officer. They're going to put the formalities like sub-lethal weapons aside, and they're all going to shoot you, and you are going to die. And if you don't die, and make an escape, they will hunt you to the ends of the earth(exaggeration) or kill those who are near you who are unarmed and non-violent. Even a large group of people with your fancy guns won't stop them, because they have the National Guard to back them up, and other Government-controlled forces. Assuming your cause is legitimate, do you think you could muster the forces to physically neutralize all of the police officers in just one city? Fact: There are 45,000 police officers in New York. Even if one could muster and arm 45,000+ people to oppose them, there are always more waiting in the ranks and, chances are they'd find out beforehand. Where as, if they knew people were going to come yell at them, their response would be quite different. In conclusion: Your gun alone, or a few thousand guns put next to yours, won't stop the million or so guns they have. Disclaimer: Not that I have anything against guns, but most of the reasons for owning them just aren't cutting it, or the reasons that people defend them with. Owning a gun for home defense could save your life, it could also take your life or the life of someone near to you. Owning a gun for the purpose of defending yourself from other guns, can be plain old foolery.(This isn't the case everywhere, mind you, I can think of alot of places where guns could do some good. I'm talking about the US, and Government specifically) Finally: Guns are just more trouble than they're worth.
(Postscript: If you're going to attack this rant don't attack me personally, this is a whole new paradigm for me. Attack the idea, it will help me refine it or possibly change my way of thinking. Attack me, and I will stop listening. Also, I'm in Seattle in a Journalistic capacity.) --Nimbus Qrygg, The One True Qrygg OS > Religion;
Slashdot Mirror
That's not bad, that's funny.
The Australian government better keep it's tentacles down under, because if I catch them reaching across the water to my machine, I will have to create an international incident.
--Nimbus Qrygg, The One True Qrygg
OS > Religion;
This article has attracted a large amount of comments and flames and this, and that, and the other, and discussions on 'foot mice'. /and/ keyboard to give him 'ultimate access'.
Even the sanity of the author has come into question.
Well, I'm going to say this, instead of attacking what he wrote and how he wrote it, look at the fundamental idea of WHY he wrote it. He wrote it because the interfaces he's kept to don't work for him. Many(most(all)) of us could have written a similar article(mechanics of writing aside) though skewed towards our needs and preferences. From reading his article, I'd say he wants some kind of weird 'layered' keyboard with the arrow keys arranged in concentric quarter circles to represent different kinds of movement.
I, personally, think that sounds cool. And, if TC reads this, I hope he'll think it sounds cool too.
The fact of the matter is, is that there is no progression further than vi for him. No one has written a better program for him, and no one has made a better keyboard to help him better access his old program. And no one has gone on and made a program
He's moving onto some kind of exciting 'Star Trek' console that only exists in Sci-Fi! And everyone else wants 'foot mice'.
I think his overall point was this: We need more options, both hardware and software when it comes to interfaces.
And if anyone makes an input device with the arrow keys changed into concentric quarter circles(imagine a bullseye cut into quarters and turned so it opens forward at 90 degrees, maybe some height difference and twisting action so you can use multiple fingers, or being cut and spread out or something) I want one, and that's that. And he'll probably want one too.
Maybe some people want a capslock the size of their space bar because they won't type any other way. They deserve this. What we need is full customatizable keyboards and workable mouse alternatives. Maybe a keyboard that is just a grid of touch sensors that you attach your keys to anyway you please and then map them would work. The 'idea' is great, 'ideas' are always great. But someone needs to get up and make that 'idea' a reality.
I, personally, may tinker with the idea some and maybe try to cobble together a prototype, but what people need to do instead of getting 'ideas' and ranting about them is to present the product of these ideas or a plan for achieving them to the masses.
I think, that if the author had unveiled some amazing VI keyboard he constructed in the middle of his article, even the VI-haters would applaud him. What people are flaming is that the 'idea' is only an 'idea' and that the 'idea' is tailored for the thinker's way of thinking alone.
*shrug* Hell if I know.
...That's my rant.
--Nimbus Qrygg, The One True Qrygg
OS > Religion;
If you wanted a nice gigantic desktop you could scroll around and situate your various programs in. You could try using the AfterStep window manager for X and setting it up for scrolling desktops.
Mine are about six screens big or so, two across, three down. When I'm working I generally have nearly a dozen xterms open and switch between them with varying frequencies. You can achieve an odd sort of 'Sliding GUI&CLI Zen' with such a set up, provided you configure everything to your
preferences.
When working I switch from keyboard to mouse with little difficulty and slide from xterm to xterm, works pretty well. You become intuitively conscious of where all of your programs are located over the 2D space. Try it, it's worth it. It'd be nice if Windows had a similar interface.
(Note: When not in X I just open a bunch of virtual terminals and leave it at that.)
--Nimbus Qrygg, The One True Qrygg
OS > Religion;
I'm going to open this little note with two words: The Police.
While 'lawful' in the sense that they are 'the law', the police may decide that you should be detained or your house should be searched without cause. I know the common 'Believe in the System' reply to this would be that the law protects you from such and that there are things such as warrants, it should also be noted that the law can't physically protect you from itself.
I've been in Seattle for a week now, and I've watched The Police act more like a 'military presence' than the militaries of many small countries.
They aren't armed with just sub-lethal though, they are all sporting semi-automatic pistols with extended clips.
Throwing rocks at them, poking them with sticks, egging them, punching them, and yelling derisive things at them will accomplish one or both of two things: Thing one, sub-lethal weapons will be used against you. Either rubber bullets, teargas, pepperspray, or truncheons. Thing two, You will feel alot better after expending the energy. (You may also be arrested but when there is a mob of people doing the same thing it won't matter. Note: I don't neccesarily advocate violence against the police or private property but one has to do what one has to do when one has to do it. I'd rather see someone hit a police officer then see a police officer hit someone.)
Now, lets say you take your fancy 'gun' and shoot a police officer. They're going to put the formalities like sub-lethal weapons aside, and they're all going to shoot you, and you are going to die. And if you don't die, and make an escape, they will hunt you to the ends of the earth(exaggeration) or kill those who are near you who are unarmed and non-violent. Even a large group of people with your fancy guns won't stop them, because they have the National Guard to back them up, and other Government-controlled forces.
Assuming your cause is legitimate, do you think you could muster the forces to physically neutralize all of the police officers in just one city?
Fact: There are 45,000 police officers in New York. Even if one could muster and arm 45,000+ people to oppose them, there are always more waiting in the ranks and, chances are they'd find out beforehand. Where as, if they knew people were going to come yell at them, their response would be quite different.
In conclusion: Your gun alone, or a few thousand guns put next to yours, won't stop the million or so guns they have.
Disclaimer: Not that I have anything against guns, but most of the reasons for owning them just aren't cutting it, or the reasons that people defend them with. Owning a gun for home defense could save your life, it could also take your life or the life of someone near to you. Owning a gun for the purpose of defending yourself from other guns, can be plain old foolery.(This isn't the case everywhere, mind you, I can think of alot of places where guns could do some good. I'm talking about the US, and Government specifically)
Finally: Guns are just more trouble than they're worth.
(Postscript: If you're going to attack this rant don't attack me personally, this is a whole new paradigm for me. Attack the idea, it will help me refine it or possibly change my way of thinking. Attack me, and I will stop listening. Also, I'm in Seattle in a Journalistic capacity.)
--Nimbus Qrygg, The One True Qrygg
OS > Religion;