Originally posted by groovebuster
Someone was saying that he doesn't know why the UI of MacOS X isn't outdated...
Well, the answer is simple. Maybe they made it look cool, but the functionailty and concept is ancient meanwhile. A "2-D" window system dates back to the 70's. They added a few things over the years here and there, but in particular they are circling around themselves since a long time. I can't believe that the current concept fur the Computer UI can't be topped, considering the improved capabilities of current hardware. It's like thinking the world is flat, until they find out it's not... We are blind for new ideas because we are too used to the way computers are these days.
When we can't imagine something it doesn't mean it isn't possible...
I wish they would try a really different approach to the UI and revolutionize the way you use computers... The current experience is OK, but I am sure there are ways to make it way more ergonomic.
So far MacOS X is "just" a MacOS 9 in a new dress (regarding the UI)... No innovation at all!
groovebuster
Well, I know what you mean, because I have wondered the same thing to myself, but I also wonder what the limits are to the practicality of a UI radically different from what we have.
I'm thinking back to movies I've seen in which the UI's were nothing like anything I've ever seen, and I don't know that I would enjoy using computers like that.
For instance, in Hackers (I think it was, or maybe Matrix), they showed the character searching on the Internet or on his hard drive, and there was this montage of articles from newspapers, magazines, etc., just jumping up to the front of the screen like so many different colors and shapes in a computer display test. That looks neat in the movies, but I wouldn't want that on my computer. It would make no sense and be totally impractical. Then there's Minority Report, in which you have to put on these special gloves with electronic gadgets on them and perform some kind of Tai Chi routine standing up and waving your arms all over the place to look through pictures and videos. Again, it looks dramatic in the movies, but I don't see myself doing that anytime soon, especially not if I'm using my laptop in bed, or on the bus, train, plane, at school. I mean, sure, we could use more exercise, and a sedentary lifestyle is a factor in disease, but there's just not enough room on a plane to do Tai Chi just to interface with your computer!
And then there's the question of the limits of practicality in industrial design. Sure, I've sometimes wondered why we can't break out of the whole rectangular theme we've got going, too. But what would be the alternative? A round display with round windows? You lose to much prime real estate when you make spaces round. Same with triangular or any other shape. The best shape for archtectural spaces and documents (be they text, picture, or video) is rectangular.
And what's so great about 3D? Life is 3D, I know, but I don't expect my computer's UI to be. One of the benefits of a computer is that it takes the three-dimensional world and compresses it into two dimensions. I've read where MS said they were going to make the UI like an office metaphor, where you could "walk through" your computer, go to a file cabinet, pull a drawer, pull out a document
please! If I wanted to go to that much trouble, I may as well be working with parchment and quill. I get plenty of 3D in the real world. I'm perfectly happy to have a 2D computer UI. I once tried
a 3D UI for OS X, and I thought it was a waste of time. I do admire the effort, though, and I don't doubt that there might be a better way to interact with a computer than what we have today. All I'm saying is: don't knock it just because it's old. Sometimes what's old is still around today because it's "tried & true."
