[clug-talk] Does the Linux Desktop Innovate Too Much?

[Gustin Johnson]

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Shawn wrote:
> Gustin Johnson wrote:
>> I suspect that gestures and or touch will dominate and mice will be as
>> quaint as a rotary telephone. There will likely always be some sort of
>> pen for the artists, various musical interfaces that mimic actual
>> instruments (these won't be needed but many like me will take a while to
>> leave those particular interfaces behind), but for most the traditional
>> UI will likely disappear, replaced by speech and gestures.
> 
> I'm not sure we'll see the keyboard/mouse disappear in our lifetime.
> They are currently the most efficient methods for interacting with
> computers (I'm thinking letter writing, code, drawing - I count pen
> devices under the mouse idea...).
> 
For coding you may have a point, but I also see coding as niche
activity:)  We might find better ways to code in the next 10 years.  I
am pretty sure that once we figure out the best way for us to interact
with computers, that is when things will really begin to get interesting.

> I have hopes for speech. When we can carry on conversations with the
> computers THEN the interface may be suitable.  As is common sentences
> like "Call um... Mike, er, Mike Smith" just don't work.  It "HAS" to be
> "CALL" pause "MIKE" pause "SMITH".  But, time will tell.

You and I can handle that sort of ambiguous phrase, and while computers
today still struggle there are some pretty impressive systems in place
right now (when I call Rogers for example).  I expect the next 10 years
to get even better in this space.  Part of what helps us humans are
facial expressions and body language.  Getting computers to recognize
and understand these will be powerful.
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