I actually watched the video yesterday before the/. post came up and sat through my thoughts for a day and this is what i feel.
Multi touch interfaces are overhyped.
Point being, 1) I think one thing that the mouse works really well is that it basically is a amplification and translation of human motion. This is my main criticism of this interface design. I can understand why touch works for the iPhone, but say for the computer, simply put, for zooming in and out, most photo managing programs (hello picasa) uses the mouse scroll button to zoom. And it really translates and require far less effort on my part to perform this task as to if i were to keep pinching my fingers. And reset and pinch again. Basically the mouse wheel allows me to zoom to theoretically infinity. Thus that is a reason why I don't think I would want something like this. The effort to use this device is basically presented in the concept itself - It has a surface that is wide, and it needs ten fingers to operate. To what benefit does it bring? Interestingly, I'm more of a fan of the new Wacom Bamboo Touch. I think while the concept is similar, the execution is different and the device itself would have more potential in a still windows based environment.
2) I don't see the point of tiling windows in a long strip. It may be good for some applications but not for others. What about applications that have inherently small windows? Like Instant messengers. Are all my conversation windows going to be tiled full screen over my big monitor? The other thing that I'm thinking is what if I'm referencing something. I've done this a few times, say if I'm writing code or essay and I keep a webpage or something maximised in the background while my current window occupies a smaller window on the front? And basically the zoom all the way out fees like expose, or compiz on linux where you can line all windows up. And scrolling the windows tile is simply.. alt tabbing? But with touch gestures? Imagine if you have a capacitative touch pad, and you can say use a 2 finger gesture to alt-tab (+ auto maximise if you so desire). Does it work the same way?
I love the idea of reimagining interfaces. And I really laud the video poster for his good work. But I don't think it works for me and I'd like to post this as some constructive feedback.
Slashdot Mirror
What is guaranteed? Does being on top guarantee that you'll stay on top? I'd imagine it's the opposite when people are clamouring to undo you.
And why do you want to be so rich and powerful anyway? Does that bring you more happiness?
I actually watched the video yesterday before the /. post came up and sat through my thoughts for a day and this is what i feel.
Multi touch interfaces are overhyped.
Point being, 1) I think one thing that the mouse works really well is that it basically is a amplification and translation of human motion. This is my main criticism of this interface design. I can understand why touch works for the iPhone, but say for the computer, simply put, for zooming in and out, most photo managing programs (hello picasa) uses the mouse scroll button to zoom. And it really translates and require far less effort on my part to perform this task as to if i were to keep pinching my fingers. And reset and pinch again. Basically the mouse wheel allows me to zoom to theoretically infinity. Thus that is a reason why I don't think I would want something like this. The effort to use this device is basically presented in the concept itself - It has a surface that is wide, and it needs ten fingers to operate. To what benefit does it bring? Interestingly, I'm more of a fan of the new Wacom Bamboo Touch. I think while the concept is similar, the execution is different and the device itself would have more potential in a still windows based environment.
2) I don't see the point of tiling windows in a long strip. It may be good for some applications but not for others. What about applications that have inherently small windows? Like Instant messengers. Are all my conversation windows going to be tiled full screen over my big monitor? The other thing that I'm thinking is what if I'm referencing something. I've done this a few times, say if I'm writing code or essay and I keep a webpage or something maximised in the background while my current window occupies a smaller window on the front? And basically the zoom all the way out fees like expose, or compiz on linux where you can line all windows up. And scrolling the windows tile is simply.. alt tabbing? But with touch gestures? Imagine if you have a capacitative touch pad, and you can say use a 2 finger gesture to alt-tab (+ auto maximise if you so desire). Does it work the same way?
I love the idea of reimagining interfaces. And I really laud the video poster for his good work. But I don't think it works for me and I'd like to post this as some constructive feedback.