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Uh ? the mouse's purpose was always there : to interact with WIMP based UIs, which is doable with a keyboard, but hardly as easy as it is with a mouse. The fact that the mouse was invented at the same time as the WIMP concept should be a big clue to this. It took many years for it to become an essential tool for computer users because it took many years for WIMP to become the defacto standard in PC computing UIs. Both are tied together.

The question is now : What does this bring to the table as far as new UI paradigms ? It just seems to me to be a new way of interacting with existing UIs. Something a keyboard/mouse/drawing tablet presently do much better with much less arm fatigue than this thing. Unlike the mouse and keyboard and drawing tablets, this thing is simply hardware. It's not bringing anything new as far as UIs go, which is a definate requirement for new input paradigms.

The mouse was invented at Stanford Research Institute in 1963. PARC wouldn't develop WIMP around it until literally a decade later.
 
The question is now : What does this bring to the table as far as new UI paradigms ? It just seems to me to be a new way of interacting with existing UIs. Something a keyboard/mouse/drawing tablet presently do much better with much less arm fatigue than this thing. Unlike the mouse and keyboard and drawing tablets, this thing is simply hardware. It's not bringing anything new as far as UIs go, which is a definate requirement for new input paradigms.

Just wait until someone develops a 3d Deskspace. Step aside my 2d desktop with windows, I want a Deskspace with Cubes!

From the looks of the video and the Leap webpage, the guys who developed the Leap made it so that interaction with 3d modeling programs could become easier. Then after they did that, they imagined "what if we could use this for X, Y, and Z?" and later "I wonder what other people can do with this device and dev kit." So they seem to be heavily relying on developers to create the new input paradigms. As always with technology, the first revision of something is pretty neat, and when you get into the later generations, it starts to get wacky and super awesome. Just look at anything that is in its 5th+ generation and compare it with its first generation.

Basically what I am trying to say is that you need to start somewhere with something little in order to create something big. Who knows, this technology might be used to control holographic computer screens in 1 or 2 decades. Try using a mouse for that!

I can see your point of view that I sum up to be "We have a 2d computing environment, and it works really well with 2d input (mouse, trackpad, and tablets all input on a 2d plane). This 3d input is useless and it'll just make your arms hurt" The first point I agree with, but now that we are getting 3d input with the Leap, it's only a matter of time before we get a 3d computing environment, whether it's with wearing glasses or a holographic computer.

Speaking of this, are there any people out there that want to team up with me to create the first(?) 3d consumer OS environment with this thing? My brain is exploding as I write this post with tons of ideas!
 
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I'm pretty sure 1999 just called, they want Project Looking Glass back. ;)

Haha! That's awesome! I never knew about this project, however after reading the wiki page about it,

"After unveiling the prototype, Steve Jobs called Schwartz's office and told him that Apple would sue Sun if Sun moved forward to commercialize [Project Looking Glass]"

And I have yet to see apple's 3d desktop interface! wtf apple :confused:
(ok, I see some similarities between this and quickflow and timemachine but still)


And, as cool as this is, it's not what I am imagining. Looking Glass is still a 2d computing environment with 3d effects built into it. Virtually useless if you have a 3d input device, just like OS X and Windows OS. I'm imagining an actual 3d computing environment where you can interact with the objects and cubes (aka windows) using a device such as the leap. (and I'm not talking about the real world! haha) It would basically re-invent computing and our typical work flow as we know it.
 
Haha! That's awesome! I never knew about this project, however after reading the wiki page about it,

"After unveiling the prototype, Steve Jobs called Schwartz's office and told him that Apple would sue Sun if Sun moved forward to commercialize [Project Looking Glass]"

And I have yet to see apple's 3d desktop interface! wtf apple :confused:

I especially like how Jonathan put Steve in his place :

In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”

My response was simple. “Steve, I was just watching your last presentation, and Keynote looks identical to Concurrence – do you own that IP?” Concurrence was a presentation product built by Lighthouse Design, a company I’d help to found and which Sun acquired in 1996. Lighthouse built applications for NeXTSTEP, the Unix based operating system whose core would become the foundation for all Mac products after Apple acquired NeXT in 1996. Steve had used Concurrence for years, and as Apple built their own presentation tool, it was obvious where they’d found inspiration. “And last I checked, MacOS is now built on Unix. I think Sun has a few OS patents, too.” Steve was silent.

And that was the last I heard on the topic.

Jonathan Schwartz really was an awesome CEO as far as transparency went (if not budget manegerial skills).

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The mouse was invented at Stanford Research Institute in 1963. PARC wouldn't develop WIMP around it until literally a decade later.

Stanford and other experimental mice designs were not commercialized prior to the WIMP interface though, Leap is commercializing this product before a UI paradigm is being brought forth for it.

That's the big difference. The mouse was brought forth with Xerox' Star systems with a WIMP interface in 1981.
 
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