The desktop is DEAD!

[Technoid]

Found this artickle:
TDID

"A couple of years ago we did a study on how to introduce new computing models," says Dan Russell, research director in the field of human-computer interaction at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. "We wanted to find people who didn't understand the function of file folders, how to open files, how to delete files. We couldn't find anyone. That makes it hard to change people's expectations of how computers should behave."

That strange, I encounter them everyday!
And they all usualy owns a computer and still don't have a clue....

But Rao admits that the obstacles to getting the concept adopted widely are huge, and that his primary goal isn't to overthrow the desktop metaphor but to become a part of it. "So when Microsoft says, 'Hey, we want to make this a part of Windows, so sell it or we're going to pulverize you,' then boy, we've won," he says. "That is the goal. I'd love to hear that."

Hmm.....
I'm not so shure that he will love it when M$ do say it
But it is M$ marketing in a nutshell!!

Alias/Wavefront's Bill Buxton predicts a world where the personal computer stops trying to be a general-purpose device, like a Swiss Army knife, and goes back instead to what it is good at: making text documents and spreadsheets. The problem isn't the desktop metaphor at all—it's that we're trying to use our personal computers for tasks they weren't meant to perform. Peel those tasks away to specialized devices—music to MP3 players, films to movie players, news and information to specialized readers—and you've solved the desktop metaphor problem. Each device will evolve its own best interface, depending on its specialized use. Buxton's favorite evidence of this process is the Palm Pilot.

YUCK!!
I'd go crazy!
One "computer" for dokuments
one for games (XBOX? Yuck again)
one for mp3??
one for browsing the web?
YUCK!!

Throwing out the desktop metaphor, however, might be even tougher than replacing it with new metaphors—and not everyone agrees that the PC is on its way out. "That kind of thinking is wrong," says Gelernter. "The PC isn't a Swiss Army knife. It's like a hammer. People don't want a million different tools. They want a single hammer that can do a million things, because it's a tremendously flexible, elegant and powerful tool."

How true!


Those that wants to "do away" with the desktop is usualy those that never did "get it"

we use the same "interface" to drive automobiles today as in the days of the Model T. But behind that relatively unchanging interface, new tools such as antilock brakes, power steering, fuel injection systems and computerized warning systems aid us tremendously as we drive.

That is probably the best way to "improve" a interface...

[The PIT]

If they're from the same article I think the person was drunk when he started and had sobered up a bit by the time he finnished.

[Technoid]

Yes, all quotes are from the same article...

But its not the same persons "speaking!...

[The PIT]

One was pissed and the other wasn't then.

[Technoid]

Read the article....

It's not that long, (3 short pages)

It's always fun to read about people that can't go with the flow!

Usualy those that don't like the desktop system is those that can't keep the real world tidy and organized either!

[Wombat]

I read that article back when it hit slashdot. This guy is a moron.

[KRSESQ]

"It was a brilliant idea at the time," he says. "But it's explicitly tied to the way we managed information in the 1940s, with filing cabinets filled with separate folders of information. Even 10 years ago the notion of putting stuff in files and sticking certain files in folders and others on your desktop was already broken down and failing."

There are reasons this system was adopted for computers: It's simple, in's (relatively) efficient, and it's FAMILIAR to most anyone who knows how to use a file cabinet. Sure, sometimes things get lost. No way to avoid it. Forces the user to be a little organised. Think computers crash a lot now? Just wait til we start forcing them to organise and keep track of all the crap we throw at them!

I think Gelernter is overthinking things WAYY too much.

Kevin

[Elie]

Alias/Wavefront's Bill Buxton predicts a world where the personal computer stops trying to be a general-purpose device, like a Swiss Army knife, and goes back instead to what it is good at: making text documents and spreadsheets. The problem isn't the desktop metaphor at all—it's that we're trying to use our personal computers for tasks they weren't meant to perform. Peel those tasks away to specialized devices—music to MP3 players, films to movie players, news and information to specialized readers—and you've solved the desktop metaphor problem. Each device will evolve its own best interface, depending on its specialized use. Buxton's favorite evidence of this process is the Palm Pilot.

Here's what you do to this Bill Buxton dude..

1-Put him on a leesh
2-walk him to the nearest tree
3-tie him there and give him a palm pilot to play with.
4-leave him to rott for good, no food or water.

LOL

[PowerHungry]

Here's what I say about Palm. It started good, a clean simple, fast design. Now microsoft has a clean, simple fast design, and Palm is still where it started. I dont see how it evolved at all, and the M$ one (at least in my opinion from my wonderful iPAQ 3765) is far better than the interface for Palm (I borrowed a buddy's m500 for a week).

That author is nuts. They are the same people that said that Net Appliances (remember those?) were supposed to replace computers and by the turn of the millenium no one would own a desktop. That is not how it works. I don't like to have to buy a $300 mp3 player, a $400 gaming box, a $400 personal organizer, and a $200 DVD player, and a $200 stereo and a $200 TV/Monitor when I can get all of them for less than $1200 with a computer. People will go with what is cheap and easy. It is cheaper and easier to have one big system than many smaller ones.

That's my little rant.

[Dr Mordrid]

And a good, proper and correct rant it was

The guys that keep promoting this stuff need to get out more....

Dr. Mordrid