10/GUI - A Fresh Approach to the User Interface.

[BlizzardBomb]

Here it is in action.

Combining both new hardware (multi-touch trackpad) and new software, 10/GUI is a intriguing beast. There are some great ideas in this concept, some clearly inspired by touch-screen phones. Window management looks especially easy with this new approach. Particularly interesting seeing as Apple is highly likely to be releasing a tablet and a touch-screen iMac soon.

 

[cherry su]

That's a really neat concept. It seems to involve a lot of memorizing hand gestures, which a lot of seem to be pretty arbitrary (three fingers for application management, for example). Also, I'm not so sure about having all application take the height of the monitor since that severely restricts how many active, decently-sized windows you can have visible at once. All in all, I think we are ready for a transition from the mouse and 10/GUI is a well thought-out move in the right direction.

 

[Cboss]

Wow, I wasn't expecting this to look as good as it does. It would take some getting used to but I could see something like this catching on.

My only question is how it works for text input. Would a traditional keyboard be necessary, or would the touch sensitive pad turn into the keyboard?

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Wow, I wasn't expecting this to look as good as it does. It would take some getting used to but I could see something like this catching on.

My only question is how it works for text input. Would a traditional keyboard be necessary, or would the touch sensitive pad turn into the keyboard?

At the end they appear to show a keyboard attached to the trackpad, so I'm guessing it'll work with a keyboard, similar to a laptop setup.

 

[maflynn]

Interesting concept but the keyboard/multi touch pad does not look very ergonomic. The require touchpad size pushes the keyboard farther away making it difficult to type.

It seems the authors of the site avoided the keyboard issue outright because the demo itself only shows starting applications and moving them around the screen. No other input was being shown, particularly the keyboard.

It seems that 10/gui has a good idea in this paradigm shift but addressing the keyboard issue appears critical to any sort of acceptance.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Interesting concept but the keyboard/multi touch pad does not look very ergonomic. The require touchpad size pushes the keyboard farther away making it difficult to type.

It seems the authors of the site avoided the keyboard issue outright because the demo itself only shows starting applications and moving them around the screen. No other input was being shown, particularly the keyboard.

It seems that 10/gui has a good idea in this paradigm shift but addressing the keyboard issue appears critical to any sort of acceptance.

People can have fairly large tablets in front of a keyboard and still get by so at least this is a step in the right direction.

 

[ss957916]

No prizes for making promotional videos. That was the most boring thing I've ever seen.

 

[MisterMe]

No prizes for making promotional videos. That was the most boring thing I've ever seen.

The video is boring, but they did the best they could with the material. Today, there are two major GUi's, the MacOS X and Windows and its derivatives. A lot of Linux window managers are just variations on the Windows theme. Go back to a time when the Mac competed with GEM, NeXTstep, Presentation Manager, Open Look, etc. and later with the advent of BeOS, the 10/GUI would not have warranted a second look.

 

[TheBonk]

I thought it was an interesting video. It gives us a view into what future GUIs might be like. I can see Apple using some of the ideas discussed in the video. They're already halfway there with the iPhone.

 

[maflynn]

People can have fairly large tablets in front of a keyboard and still get by so at least this is a step in the right direction.

Of course you can have a larger touch pad in front of the keyboard, but that doesn't make it ergonomic or feasible to use.

 

[MisterMe]

... I can see Apple using some of the ideas discussed in the video. ...

Which ideas? We have seen GUIs proposed and introduced to the public since the Apple Lisa back in 1983. We have seen the work of Xerox PARC, Smalltalk, various and sundry artificial intelligence workstations, up through the Microsoft Surface and the iPhone's touch interface. The one innovation that I see in 10/GUI is that it allows the simultaneous manipulation of multiple objects via touch. Most of the rest of it appears to be pretty much what we have seen before or, in come cases, a step backwards.

I ask you: "Where is the beef?"

 

[jonesboy]

The Next version of OSX? After Leopard.

With all of the multi-touch technology coming from apple. Could the next version of OSX be something like this ?

I could see wireless gloves giving the minority report type of experience.

If so do you think it would be a hit or a major fail?

 

[CylonGlitch]

My prediction, after Leopard will be Snow Leopard that is just a minor upgrade to Leopard and doesn't offer a huge amount of improvements. BUT it will be some nice little ones and will be mostly a 64 bit OS.

Just my guess though.

What's after Snow Leopard? I can't predict that far into the future.

 

[FSMBP]

I hope this trend of using the word "fail" as a noun stops; how trendy can all these teenage YouTube watching boys get?!

Assuming you meant "after Snow Leopard", it will come out in late 2010 or early 2011. And I doubt it will be a "major fail" as there has been yet to be one in OS X (Don't say Snow Leopard as that was a minor update).

 

[pilotError]

You should check this out then Minority Report Lives

The Minority Report developer has started a company and built the interface that was on the show. The plan is to commercialize it.

 

[jonesboy]

Since Apple purchased Fingerworks this came to mind. In place of the mouse for the desktop.

I could see some type of file management being handled like the ipad pictures and the quicklook currently available.

The only problem i see with a gesture interface is precision. I am thinking of film, picture or music editing. Would it be easier with your finger and gestures or harder?

 

[kdarling]

The Minority Report developer has started a company and built the interface that was on the show. The plan is to commercialize it.

Interesting.

Although we might need gorilla arms to use it.

The story goes that Tom Cruise eventually had to stop filming takes every five minutes to rest his arms.

 

[pilotError]

Interesting.

Although we might need gorilla arms to use it.

The story goes that Tom Cruise eventually had to stop filming takes every five minutes to rest his arms.

I developed touch interfaces a number of years ago. I still see it having only limited use, and Apple has pretty much "touched" upon where it is useful. Having touch on a iMac display or something like it is just a novelty. Useful to a point, but ultimately they all fail because of gravity.

The track pad and mouse as well as the iPad are pretty good targets for that stuff for the exact reason you mentioned. Gravity is a bitch after a few minutes! LOL

I feel the same way about gesture computing. How many people get burnt out playing Wii games (physically). Fun for a while, but loses its novelty pretty quickly.

That's probably why you don't see those Dell Touch PC's just flying off the shelves.