[Sigia-l] When will you buy one?

[mauro pinheiro]

On 5/30/07, Ziya Oz <listera at earthlink.net> wrote:
> [Microsoft's] Surface has no cables or external USB ports for plugging in
> peripherals. For that matter, it has no keyboard, no mouse, no trackball ‹
> no obvious point of interaction except its screen.
>
> [...]. He was dragging and dropping virtual content to physical objects. I'm
> not often surprised by new technology, but I can honestly say I'd never seen
> anything like it.
>
> You think this is just an overpriced toy? Or a UI/interaction paradigm
> breaker?
> ----
> Ziya


Seems to me that it's big step in the desktop metaphor as we know
it...one can actually use it as a desktop, spread documents and photos
over the "surface" and drag them as they were real.

I guess the multi-touch interface it's about to become a standard.
This MS Surface reminds me some of Xerox Parc projects from the late
80s - some interesting articles about it can be found here:
http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/384/dryer.html

To me, the most interesting thing in MS Surface, aside the multi-touch
interface (which is not exactly new), is the way different devices
communicate within each other - at least in the video presentation. No
need for opening different programs, no need to multiple click
actions...just drag "data" from one device to another. That's really
something.

This is the kind of interaction that I fell we lack today, and that's
what pervasive computing is all about. I can imagine more applications
like this "Surface", in different shapes and sizes, computers embedded
into the environment, capable of sharing data with each other with no
more effort than what we saw in this MS Surface presentation.

I like the term "Calm technology" that Mark Weiser used to describe
this kind of interaction. To me, that's what usability is all about,
to let us use things in a pleasant way, demanding the less cognitive
effort...

This MS Surface sure indicates a trend in this direction. Next step is
to communicate with RFID stuff, and to get free from the "table"
shape, towards smaller solutions - the actual size is not very
"handy"! :-)

Today we still have the desktop computer as a very strong paradigm of
what computers are. A multiple function unit, that concentrate many
different applications. The new generation of mobile phones intend to
be another paradigm, but still is linked to the old desktop metaphor -
just in a different shape (a worst one, if I may say).

I think in a near future we can expect different kinds of
computer-like-devices, in different sizes and shapes, to do specific
functions, communicating and sharing data with each other. Some may
need a keyboard, some won't need it at all. Maybe it's time not to
think in computers as ONE object, but as something that is embedded in
multiple objects, that could be used in different ways and situations.


PS: Sure is overpriced! They intend to make it accessible to home
users in 3 years...but I guess this will be no longer interesting in 3
years!


-- 
prof. mauro pinheiro
universidade federal do espírito santo
centro de artes
depto. de desenho industrial