Microsoft showed off their new touchscreen, tabletop computer yesterday which they call the Surface. There isn't anything you would normally call a user interface. No windows or menus are anywhere to be seen. Everything revolves around using your fingers to draw, move, and resize everything on the screen.
Microsoft isn't alone, Jeff Han demonstrated a similar system called TED in February of last year. Bigger yet, Apple is about to release its iPhone in June which is completely driven from the touch screen with many of same abilities.
So should we prepare to ditch our desktops and laptops with their copies of Windows or Mac OS X? I don't think so. We'll still need these sophisticated devises for a long time to come. Nevertheless, I do think we are starting to see the breakdown of the monolithic computer desktop and laptop. We already had seen it start with smart phones, TiVo's, and game consoles. Now we are seeing it with user interfaces. Computers will blend into our surroundings as they are placed everywhere and with these new "no interface" interfaces they'll become dramatically easier to use. The possibilities are endless.
0 comments:
Post a Comment