ISO50

I love the concept, and have also tried several touch/ pen interfaces. My hesitancy still lies in the fact that after about 2 cups of coffee, my fingers get shaky. For me, the beauty of the mouse is still that you don’t have to rely on your fingers to pinpoint. Maybe if there was some element of hand harness? Sounds tacky, but if there was something that provided a little resistance, it may not be as bad.

it’d be nice to see the keyboard built into the touch. in ghost in the shell there was a robot typing on a flat sheet with illuminated key areas, and there were 5 little fingers coming out of its finger tips to speed up typing. perhaps a hot spot to light up those keyboard regions?

also since we’re talking about crystals and light and speed — why not make the computer/monitor a thin sheet of overlay that can be rolled up/out? it’s also kinda my dream to have a concave screen to maximize desktop real estate — not to mention it would create an area that light could triangulate at, making 3d possible.

ah, but that’s the future…what’s happening now again?

I switched over from a mouse to an intuous 4. Not exactly a paradigm shift, but subtly different, and certainly nice for Photoshop/Design work in general (Customizable buttons FTW).

I think a lot of the ideas presented here are actually pretty interesting (the approach to gesturing, reconfiguring the overall interface), but I think this is all concept no execution. Good concept, but I think anyone trying bat this around and push it forward would need to creating a good functional prototype of the hardware first.

The most interesting thing with multitouch is the capacity for context. But I don’t think we have even begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible there.

Interesting concept, but IMO this doesn’t change much. You have the ability to use all your fingers and you have a more organized interface.

Plus, how would something like this translate to the masses? I can see frustration of people trying to master these 2-finger pinch and 4-finger slide techniques.

also, i dont think i want to use all 10 fingers all of the time

Like Scott, my main concerns with 10/GUI relate to familiarity and multi-tasking. On my blog, I posted a couple sketches of how 10/GUI might be modified to work for power users: http://blog.royhooper.ca/2009/10/13/10-gui-one-possible-future-of-computing

I think it ignores the fact that that we have opposable thumbs, meant to work with three dimensional objects. I think one reason the mouse has lasted is because it’s a physical object and provides natural tactile feedback. We need to think about how are hands are designed to work, rather than forcing them into new situations. Sort of like how dials, switches and focus rings will always be better than menu systems on cameras.

HA, i saw this video earlier today and thought “i could see this being on an iso50 post. lo and behold, it already is when i come check later.

this is just a prototype, i know, but i’m not too sold on the entire “linear app sorting” interface. personally i think it should be more of a grid, and each app has it’s own line, with each instance (ie. multiple word documents open) filling out the lines.

the user should have the option then, of going in locally and existing only in one app, or zooming out to all apps. in addition, they should be able to sort the app lines horizontally (with instances filling out vertically) or vertically (with instances filling out horizontally).

i would also like to see coherent options among all apps for tabbed/ split screen display modes.

one thing that i’m on the fence about, and can be argued either way, is the fact that we have to adapt to each program’s own unique user interface. i think things could be simplified a lot by adding sort of universal controls or menus (to a certain depth only… otherwise programs would lose their unique functionality)

Looks like it has a lot of potential, I’d say as a designer you’d still need a Wacom-like pen in addition…I can’t imagine zooming up on a raster image 1600% and all I have to tighten an edge up are my fingers. But I think it could be great for a lot of the normal tasks…switching between applications, surfing the web, etc.

I see some similarities between the palm pre – that’s a good thing!

I think the overall concept of multitouch is absolutely going to shake things up in the (near) future. Apple has partly proven this with their 2-finger approach on the iPhone and trackpads.

But. I like my windows scattered around the desktop(s), so why try to change that? Why can’t I use the same type multitouch commandos to greatly enhance my control over my current OS? I don’t want your engineer-approach to computing.

So, I think the winning formula won’t try to enforce a new GUI on you, but rather empower your existing OS. Multitouch FTW!

The beginning of this presentation addresses all of the issues that are normally ignored by mouse replacement bids. Great job there.

However, I don’t see how this application/window juggling is any more efficient than tabbing through. It actually seems MORE tedious. The finger number designations go down a road of increasing limitation that just doesn’t align with intuition. I am not looking for a way to manage windows faster – I think most of us heavy users have that down.

However, the fingers on the desktop on a pad scenario answers so many problems that always come to mind when touch screen comes up in the conversation.

I’d also like to see electric pulse shape switching (what’s the proper term for this – it’s where a current passes through a medium, changing the shape?) to toggle the surface texture between small depressions or bumps for keyboard and perfectly flat for full-screen manipulation.

I must add that I think MODO would be a mind-blowing design experience with this interface.

I had a car accident last year which left me with only 2 fingers on both hands. What happens then?

i’m not a touch fanatic too, but i often desire to have a trackpad near the spacebar so i like the idea of the great touch area, btw it doesn’t look functional, i’m now accustomed to OSX but… sometime having apps at fullscreen is nice, here they don’t demonstrate that. The feeling it gives me is of oppression. I feel a better direction would be the multi-desktop approach, making it a dynamic instance of the workspace, tying every app to a new desktop.

About the graphic editor you obviously are worried about, i think it wouldn’t be difficult to implement also a wacom-like tech so we would use a pen for precision tasks.
In the coming years we’ll also have better writing recognition sw, so it would be possible to use that as an input. we’re faster with a keyb but that could be intersting in given environments (taking notes at a school lesson with a current laptop is a nightmare), and finally signing a pdf invoice could be done without printing anything and scanning it back ;)