[geeks] Microsoft Surface...

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Mark wrote:
> On 31 May 2007, at 16:48, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> 
>>>  C'mon guys, they got the product done first for a change, give em  
>>> some credit...
>> No, they didn't.
>>
>> The idea actually goes back to US Navy displays from the late 50s.
>>
>> It is a very old idea.
> 
> US Navy displays do not constitute a consumer product...

The point is that it isn't a new idea.

Besides, there *are* hand/screen consumer products, and have been for some time.

Surface is just a demo, for all we know a movie and not even real.

>> Just because they polished it up doesn't make it an innovation.
> 
> I said multiple times that it wasn't totally original, but the way  
> the pulled it off was innovative, and very impressive.

To me it looked like a subset of what was shown in Minority Report.

Impressive?  Sure, but movies are like that.

Was this done on real hardware?  I guess we'll see at the next big
computer/electronics show if they have a real demo.

Also, even if it is real, is it really an effective way to work?  Has anyone
actually thought beyond the point of "wow, gee whiz" to really think about
what it would be like to work that way?

For one thing, it is physically stressful to lean over and interface like
that, and it isn't a great interface for more than a niche of applications.

I could see it being useful in public kiosks, interactive tables like they
showed in the demo, and niches like paste-up work in a publishing system.
In fact, there already are giant paste-up UIs that work something like this.

Surface is very slick, but ultimately it is just a beefed up version of touch
screen displays and supporting software.

It's really the software that needs the biggest change, and it remains to be
seen what they've really done there.

Aside:

About two years a couple of guys released a demo almost exactly like Surface,
only it used the mouse, and it was running on real hardware, and they showed
it manipulating data files and all kinds of self-organizing desktop tricks.

> That's true to an extent, but TBH I'm sick of the industry as it  
> stands. No one side of the Personal Computer argument has a tangible  
> advantage if you weight up the odds. Someone needs to bust the model  
> open totally and do something so flat-out cool that it blows the rest  
> away. That is when innovation makes everyones life better instead of  

I agree, but understand that Microsoft is one of the biggest reasons that has
happened.

Yes, they do a lot of research and neat stuff like Surface, but most of their
effort is spent on new ways to screw people, or force hardware and software to
become obsolete to increase their revenue and control.

Things like Surface are just sugar coating on the drugs they want you to take.

Show me a Microsoft that puts things like Surface as Job Number One, and I'll
be more impressed.

But I know that in reality they have 100 times more people working on turning
computers into a mindless appliance, where users don't even control their own
data.

Hey, maybe Surface can issue a small electric shock if you violate DRM by
hand-dragging photos from your friend's laptop to your screen without paying
the royalties.

Harmless, effective, and innovative... :)






-- 
shannon / Well, I have entered the metallic years. Silver in my hair, gold in
-------'  my teeth, lead in my ass...  -- Sheldon Hall