10/GUI

[Nolan]

Apparently the mouse it a limiting factor of the PC interface, and Window management is terribly impossible.

 

Embedding doesn't like Vimeo so hit the link and watch the video.

http://10gui.com/video/

 

My comments as I posted them in a chat window so bear with the errors as I'm sure there are many. Also, I hope you watched the video before reading my thoughts.

 

 

Nolan: Well....it's certainly iinteresting. I don't think it could replace a mouse though, not entirely at least since for certain games it's indispensible, great for RTS's. I think the acutall process of using all 10 fingers would destroy the average users mind.Some people can barely even type, or know how to turn a PC on. Imagine your mom trying to use this.

 

The whole window thing is just plain dumb, I know how to go through multiple windows, hell hold alt tab and I get thumbnails a lot quicker than what they did. Pinching to resize and move them separately or together is neat but falls into that average motor skills suck category.

 

The other thing is knowing myself I'd prefer to just tap the pad rather than rest my fingers on it and move them like a mouse to where they need to be pressed, but that's not possible without any visual references meaning resting fingers is required. That's just me though.

 

Also of note is that at the start he says the mouse limits the bandwidth of information it can convey. That's just worded wrong, the mouse is conveying all the information it possibly can, it's limiting the information we can convey not that it can convey. That's just nitpicking though.

 

Nolan: I think it could be a viable alternative to mice, but it would likely be niche for a long time possibly forever.

[Will]

I like the look of it to be honest. Obviously it's far from perfect, I completely agree with the issues you raise for it. I'm sure given a few years of development and some fine tuning this is more or less the type of interface we'll be using for computers in the future.

[Cube]

I think I'd call this an Epic Fail.

 

The developers seem to be ignoring some important things.

 

1. The Keyboard.

 

They don't even mention it. Their set-up doesn't allow any room to the keyboard, so the only solution would be to put a secondary screen on the touchpad. However, with a lack of buttons then it would require you to look down, and massively reduce typing speed. Plus it would massively increase the cost.

 

2. The Taskbar.

 

Their whole argument for the GUI is "It's hard to find your Window in a clutter". First of all, I (and I'm sure many other people) have most Windows at full-screen, therefore making 10/GUI much more cluttered than Windows. Secondly, the taskbar makes it much quicker to select an application than 10/GUI, especially the one in Windows 7.

 

I find it funny how they complain about the alt-tab menu and then later show off their solution to having too many things open: manually zooming out enough open an alt-tab menu.

 

3. No "Just Click".

 

The big thing with touch screen on mobile devices is that you can just click on something. This system still requires dragging. You may be able to learn to click big icons by just pressing the required place, but anything with precession still requires dragging. And if you're dragging to select something, I'm certain that most people will revert to one finger.

 

4. Keyboard Shortcuts/Right Click Menu.

 

As said before, the keyboard would be a pain to reach. Therefore this GUI has no Keyboard Shortcuts and no Right Click Menu or Middle Mouse Button (for opening a new tab/program). Anything like that on this would require clicking your finger on something and holding it down for a context menu. Which really isn't idea.

 

5. The Programs are built for single touch and one task at a time. The only program that would benefit would be an image manipulation program. However, having to click on things before doing something would make a drawing pad much more effective and efficient, and in that example nothing (apart from scrolling/selecting windows) is done with multi-touch.

 

---

 

So therefore, a mouse is still much more effective than that demo. He states that a mouse can do one set of co-ordinates. It can do one set of co-ordinates, three different click types and an extra (1D) set of co-ordinates.

 

Although after reading this, I want to find something that will allow me to press either Alt or the Windows Button and use the Mouse Scroll Thing to scroll through programs.

[Nolan]

@Cube

About the keyboard, at the end of the video they show their mock up and in it you can see the monitor with a keyboard right in front of it followed by their 10GUI pad.

 

I bet you can find something to let you scroll through applications in windows, I just don't know where. I know you can do it in browsers though, Opera it's hold right-click and scroll.

[Shino]

I think this is quite good, non of the negatives pointed out by the other posts on this thread are really solved by the use of the mouse, we're just used to them the way they are.

[Konfucius]

I like the idea of sidebars that appear on either side of the screen. I also have the taskbar in win7 on the side and it's a lot more convenient.

 

The whole touch concept need some improvement though. If you have to rest the fingers on it you might as well use a mouse and multiple finger gestures can also be replaced by multiple mousebuttons and then I can leave one hand on the keyboard.

 

Things that would greatly improve efficiency for me would be a button to switch between the current and previously used window, something like Alt+Tab that appears as a circle around the mouse pointer at the press of a button (maybe limit it to the last 7 used windows) and an option to keep a desired inactive window in the foreground.

 

 

I actually think a mouse and touch control could be a cool thing. What I mean is that you have a smaller touch screen (besides the normal "big" monitor) which shows all the tasks and specific buttons for the currently open window - and that new things could be added by dragging them over with the mouse. But everything that is on the touch screen can also be accessed on the big screen with the mouse.

Think a bit like the Logitech G15 but with a bigger screen that has touch controls.

[McPhee]

Combine with this;

 

http://gizmodo.com/5368149/microsoft-getting-cleverer-and-cleverer-with-new-multitouch-screen-keyboard

 

And we have an interesting new product, something that could replace both the mouse and the keyboard with a smaller, more compact and more flexible alternative. What he's saying certainly makes sense, the downside of touchscreens has always been that your workspace and display unit overlap and obscure each other. It'd also make a damn good laptop, especially if both screens were touch