Interfaces, metaphors & multi-touch

Zitat

Have you ever wondered why some people are afraid of computers? There’s an obvious answer, but it probably isn’t the right one. The problem isn’t the user; it’s the way the user is forced to interact with the computer.

For as long as we’ve been using computers we’ve been hobbled by the interface. The first people who had to use computers were the people who made them; early computers were used for specific tasks – like calculating the trajectory of artillery shells. There was little interaction. As computers became more general the normal method of input was by punched card; each card the same size as a dollar bill.

[...]While having a philosophical chat with your computer about the price of beans may be a long way off, multi-touch is not. Apple is reported to have filed some interesting multi-touch patents, and you can be sure that if Apple has it Microsoft will feel the need to have its own version. No doubt our interfaces will be based on the desktop metaphor for a long time yet - after all it took 110 years and a new Millenium to remove punch cards from our computer data - but let’s hope it doesn’t take another century before the same can be said of the physical interface.

Zitat von Mr. Zet

110 jahre lochkarten?
hä?

Zitat

Lochkarten und lochkartenähnliche Systeme werden ab etwa der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts im Bereich der Automatisierung und der Datenverarbeitung verwendet.