The User Experiences Of The Future 230
Patrick Griffin writes "The way that we interact with technology is almost as important as what that technology does. Productivity has been improved greatly over the years as we've adapted ourselves and our tools to technological tasks. Just the same, the UI experience of most hardware and software often leaves novice users out in the cold. The site 'Smashing Magazine' has put together a presentation of 'some of the outstanding recent developments in the field of user experience design. Most techniques seem very futuristic, and are extremely impressive. Keep in mind: they might become ubiquitous over the next years.'"
Re:Most Notable Difference... (Score:3, Interesting)
The thing that changed my mind is that I had to install a machine with Vista on it, and it was my first experience with the new OS. The machine is a new dual core Intel with 1Gb of memory. It should be a screamer but is essentially the same as the 5 year old XP machine it replaced. The secretary who has to use the machine did not like it at all and wanted XP installed. To my shock the reason was not about any of the things that I thought were "important" but really just amounted to "its different."
I used to have high hopes for a world with linux desktops but that has been dashed. Too many people prefer the old and comfortable to the new and cool. Apple and MS have the right idea. Get'm while they are young, although the Wii does offer some glimmer of hope.
Productivity improved? (Score:2, Interesting)
It has? Where is this increased productivity of which you speak?
I see people doing things differently than they did years ago, but I would hesitate to call it increased productivity.
Re:Not sure 3D is always the best (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not sure 3D is always the best (Score:5, Interesting)
How would we know it didn't happen this way:
How do you know you wouldn't just experience being painfully killed: poof, bye-bye, assume afterlife, nonexistence, or reincarnation, depending on your beliefs.
Meanwhile, the copy of you with all your memories (or, all from before the "teleporter") doesn't realize that you have experienced death-- or even that s/he isn't you but a copy. It would be the same to everyone you know-- they wouldn't be able to tell that you'd been replaced by a dopoulganger. Your replacement, not knowing any better, would assure everyone that the process was completely safe and painless, and that "you" came to the other end just fine.
The only person that would know the difference is you, except you're not around anymore to know or tell. You're dead.
I'm not sure how one would test a teleportation system to see whether the person going in actually experiences coming out at the other end, or whether the person going in experiences death, and a copy at the other end doesn't know the difference. Or at least, how one could test it and relay the results to others.
Then we can further complicate the question: suppose that you die due to reasons unrelated to teleportation. And you last used a teleporter about a year back, but the teleporter saved your "pattern"-- so your grieving loved ones are able to "recreate" you, exactly as you were when you came out the teleporter-- the only difference is that you'd be confused as to how a year had passed since you'd gone in, and everyone else has memories of you during that time that you didn't experience. Is that you? Or not?
Take Microsofts surface (Score:4, Interesting)
They link to a review of it, so here is my own. We accept for the moment that it will ONLY work with MS software and MS approved hardware.
I put my MS approved camera on the surface, up pops a enormous windows telling me I got to agree to a eula (exactly what happens when you access MS media player for the first time), it then finally allows me to download the photo's. I then try to put them on my Zune 2.0, OOPS cannot do that, the camera is digital and zune only accepts analog (Zune 2.0 doesn't allow the uploading of movies captured with a digitial tv tuner, only analog tuners)
Starting to get the picture? ALl these things sound nice when you just see the pre-scripted demo, but when it comes to real life, well, it all just breaks down. Especially when it comes to Microsoft.
Same thing with multi-touch screens, very nice, but how much software will be written to make use of it when so few people will have such a screen? I remember that System Shock ages ago had support for 3D helmets, it was a hot topic back then and one that never happened. SS was one of the few games to support such systems, the others wisely did not bother since nobody had such helmets and because few games supported them, what was the point in getting one.
I can make a game around the logitech G15 keyboard that makes the device indispensible to play, but I would be really hurting my changes of selling the game.
All these devices are intresting enough, but destined to remain obscure simply because people won't be buying them unless their is a killer application for it, and nobody will build such an application until there is a larger installed base.
Re:Not sure 3D is always the best (Score:3, Interesting)
When we look at all these slick 'intelligent' interfaces that are newbie oriented, they all hinge on the computer figuring out what the user 'intends' to do. They work because they wrap up and automate the common cases, but in doing so they inherently limit the possible functionality.
When one looks at these technologies, even things like Programming By Example, they are cases of automating the usage of the computer like an appliance. They tend to make life much more difficult for any task that requires digging into what the computer is actually doing or preforming any task the UI developer did not consider important. A good example would be comparing a file browser to command line interface... I have never seen a graphical browser that has even a small fraction of the capability of the command line, but they DO usually make the most common tasks much simpler.
The examples in the original article.... these UI technologies are all very 'pretty' and add in a nice 'ooh/ahh' element that will coax people to use computers and doing graphic related things, but they really do not add in much for say programmers, administrators, etc.
Re:Most Notable Difference... (Score:3, Interesting)
Using the Wii as an example as you did, the Wiimote is a pretty big change in how controllers work. Even if you don't see the potential of it right away, it's so different and a little bit wacky and so it's interesting enough that you want to give it a shot. But let's say that instead of using the Wiimote, Nintendo decided to use their gamecube controller design, but they mirrored the front of it so that the buttons were on the left and the stick/pad was on the right. And they backed up that decision with lots of testing that found it was more comfortable or something. It'd be a pretty significant change to controller design, but how well do you think it'd go over? I imagine it would be rather frustrating, and I think it'd be a tough sell convincing people that that change was worth retraining their thumbs.
Linux just isn't different enough from windows, at least not in ways that matter to an everyday person. All that backend stuff, command line stuff, none of that matters. At a desktop level, Linux doesn't really do anything significantly different than windows does, so why bother with it? Change for the sake of change isn't necessarily productive, old and comfortable often means efficient and cost effective. Apple has historically had the same problem competing against windows. I think there are a lot of ways that you can pretty decisively say that the MacOS has been easier to use, or more consistent, or more pleasant, etc. than its windows counterpart; but the differences have generally been a bunch of minor things. It's hard to get excited about a bunch of little things, unless they pertain to a subject that you already have a serious interest in. Most people don't have a serious interest in computer operating systems, so they don't care.
The big wrench in all of this is that things like malware have created a situation where there's a big difference, in that windows is far more likely to have very apparent problems than MacOS or Linux. Apple seems to be making an attempt to capitalize on that with advertising and such, but Linux unfortunately doesn't really have the same marketing budget.
Re:Not sure 3D is always the best (Score:3, Interesting)
For example, Archy is nearer to a CLI than to a file browser (except for the fact that it doesn't use "files" but a different metaphor, a long sequence of text documents). It has all the possibilites of a command line (invoking arbitrary commands, retrieving and filtering the output of previous executions...) but in a much more user friendly environment.
these go the wrong way (Score:3, Interesting)
I know where pretty much everything on my PC is. All my documents live in a sensible directory structure, and even if I lsoe one, I can do a desktop search.
In the real world, I'm very confused. where is that letter? is it on my desk? in the desk drawer? downstairs on the bookcase? did I leave it in the car? in a kitchen drawer maybe? is that it? is it upside down? I don't recognise it without a filename...
My simple 2D desktop filing system is better than my real life one. don't try and make things worse just so we all need a 3D card to list our documents.
Re:Not sure 3D is always the best (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm no neuroscientist, but I'm of the understanding that individual neurons don't contain memories. Those are believed to be encoded through the vast interconnectedness of many individual neurons and when one neuron dies, the rest route around it so nothing is necessarily lost. Some new neurons are created throughout our adult lives and even a neuron that's been with you since birth will have had most of its molecules completely replaced several times. The original DNA molecule's probably still in there--but the water, salts, sugars, and proteins that make up just about everything else in a neuron are continuously replaced. All the electrons and neurochemicals making up all your memories, thoughts and personality are recycled and replaced.
If you could put *very tiny* "property of /name/" stickers on every atom in your newborn body, most would be gone now (having been replaced again and again).