Former Human-Interface Inventor at Apple Bret Victor doesn’t think Microsoft’s recent vision of the future depicts a visionary or innovative approach to interaction, calling it a “timid increment from the status quo”. Victor, who worked on UI concepts for iPad, iPod nano, and “half a dozen experimental hardware platforms” at Apple, thinks envisioning future products with the standard, stiff touchscreen is limiting, calling it a “pictures under glass sacrifice” that amounts to a “hokey visual facade”. He explained on his blog:
Victor’s thinking is when using touchscreens we are sacrificing what he calls the “tactile richness” of how we manipulate everyday, real-world items. As an example, Victor describes the main functionality of a touch screen being the ability to slide a finger along the surface to manipulate elements, a motion we almost never use to manipulate real-world items. He then provides the following examples:
So what is Victor’s vision of the future? While he doesn’t touch much on a clear vision that would differ from the pictures under glass experience we are all currently stuck with, this is his plea:
(via BusinessInsider)
