Interface Seams

Leaving the Desktop Behind

September, 1998

GUIs aren't the end.

GUIs (graphical user interfaces) were amazing on a 1MIPS Macintosh. Now that clock speeds are several hundred times that speed, are GUI interfaces several hundred times better?

We need a new interface that's tantalizing at 500 MHz, great at 5 GHz, and a little boring at 500 GHz. Some possibilities:

3D and VR (virtual reality)
Audio
Speech (interpreting the spoken word)
Ubiquity
Appliances
Agents
Wearable computers
Mobile/wireless computers
Location-sensitive

We also need to go the other way - what are we missing on the low end?

Appliances
Focused applications (eg electronic rolodex)
Smart badges
Text-oriented applications (no fonts etc.)

[Written 9-1-1998.]