Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!n8emr!bluemoon!bmb
From: bmb@bluemoon.uucp (Bryan Bankhead)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: the interface for the rest of us?
Message-ID: <y9JT27w164w@bluemoon.uucp>
Date: 12 May 91 05:39:45 GMT
References: <42908@netnews.upenn.edu>
Sender: bbs@bluemoon.uucp (BBS Login)
Organization: Blue Moon BBS ((614) 868-998[0][2][4])
Lines: 27

porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey  Porten) writes:

> In article <1271@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> brendan@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
> >Oh while we are talking 3D displays, why not simply let you move your
> >hand around whithin the display and pick up and use virtual objects such
> >as pens or keyboards or compasses or rulers or whatever you like.
> 
> Do you have any idea how hard it would be to get people to use an interface
> where they see themselves picking up an object, but receive NO other 
> tactile feedback?  Sight alone in NO way would be able to give the sort
> of input needed to handle objects; could you type if your hands were
> entirely numb and you had no way of knowing which keys you hit until
> you saw the results?  Extending the Mac interface to this sort of 3D
> system, I can just picture thousands of users "fumbling" files into the
> trashcan, opening the wrong files, etc.
People manage to do some prety sophisticated virtual manipulation in video 
games with just visual inuput.  I think people will adapt just fine. Any 
system this sophisticated will have the capacity to recover from errors 
gracefully.  In any case typing is noth the kind of operations this sort 
of system will be used for, but doing system junk.  Just think, being able 
to use ALL the mail tools on internet without leafing through a phone book 
sized manual.  It would be just like using a GUI only more so.

 This is from
     bmb@bluemoon.uucp
     bmb%bluemoon@nstar.rn.com
who doesn't have their own obnoxious signature yet