I love when design that optimizes the humane experience is being pushed forward. I celebrate this technology ten thousand times happier than the next hyped self serving tech framework.
Mercury OS
41–50 of 165 posts
Re: Mercury OS
#42[dead]
Re: Mercury OS
#43This looks like the exact opposite of what I would do if I were to redesign operating systems. The job of operating system is just to run application and get out of the way, and most importantly be deterministic and reliable. I don't need my OS to "predict what I might need", I know what I need myself.
That's because this OS is a speculative puff piece by a UI designer looking to drum up some business.
Re: Mercury OS
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's all non obvious. As far as I can tell this was just as serious as any of the other, 'this is the future', post. See the recent humane keynote for example, and the vergecast's reaction to it. That said, it's absolutely valid to question stuff like this. A lot of design student type stuff miss HUGE usability issues.
Is it non-obvious? The page goes like: 1. Title 2. Screenshot 3. "Mercury is a speculative reimagining ..."
Yeah, that sounds like pretty standard marketing copy. Definitely nothing to say this isn't a thing someone intends on bringing to market.
Re: Mercury OS
#45This looks like the exact opposite of what I would do if I were to redesign operating systems. The job of operating system is just to run application and get out of the way, and most importantly be deterministic and reliable. I don't need my OS to "predict what I might need", I know what I need myself.
What would you change compared to Android to improve "let me choose the application I want and run it?"
what could be easier than "tapping on an icon with my index finger"?
Re: Mercury OS
#46This looks like the exact opposite of what I would do if I were to redesign operating systems. The job of operating system is just to run application and get out of the way, and most importantly be deterministic and reliable. I don't need my OS to "predict what I might need", I know what I need myself.
It pretty much embodies everything I hate in modern OSes. I know what I want to do and I know how I want to do it, get out of my way. Meanwhile modern OSes can't even handle simple "maybe don't steal fucking focus from window I am currently writing something in just because some other app decided to make another windows."
Totally agree. I'm sick and tired of apps "helping me," constantly interrupting with tips, "did you know .." rearranging my windows and so on. I want to get stuff done not start a journey and relationship with new code. And nobody knows better than the user what stuff they wanna do.
Re: Mercury OS
#47Microsoft actually tried to do something like this in the mid-1990s with OLE 2.0 and Cairo which was the operating system that was supposed to embody all this.
Basically, instead of applications, the user would focus on documents (kind of like the "spaces" in this). Instead of opening applications, you would invoke "verbs" on different parts of the document.
Re: Mercury OS
#48Microsoft actually tried to do something like this in the mid-1990s with OLE 2.0 and Cairo which was the operating system that was supposed to embody all this. Basically, instead of applications, the user would focus on documents (kind of like the "spaces" in this). Instead of opening applications, you would invoke "verbs" on different parts of the document.
> Basically, instead of applications, the user would focus on documents (kind of like the "spaces" in this).
It reminds me a bit of the Apple Lisa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lisa
> With Lisa, Apple presented users with what is generally, but imprecisely, known as a document-oriented paradigm. This is contrasted with program-centric design. The user focuses more on the task to be accomplished than on the tool used to accomplish it. Apple presents tasks, with Lisa, in the form of stationery. Rather than opening LisaWrite, for instance, to begin to do word processing, users initially "tear off stationery", visually, that represents the task of word processing. Either that, or they open an existing LisaWrite document that resembles that stationery. By contrast, the Macintosh and most other GUI systems focus primarily on the program that is used to accomplish a task — directing users to that first.
Re: Mercury OS
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it non-obvious? The page goes like: 1. Title 2. Screenshot 3. "Mercury is a speculative reimagining ..."
Yeah, that sounds like pretty standard marketing copy. Definitely nothing to say this isn't a thing someone intends on bringing to market.
Speculative literally means conjectural, hypothetical, toying with an idea for its own sake, though. It's not a word I associate with product of any kind, more with a sketch than a prototype.
Re: Mercury OS
#50Ah, yes, the Anti-Me Interface: The kind of interface most likely to make me not use something.
I'm sure it's "well-designed" from a theoretical perspective, and unimpeachable from the perspective of Professional UI/UX Development, but it's so inflexible and non-extensible it comes off as something between a toy and a jail cell. "You will enjoy being productive in this environment focused on channeling productivity to Approved Ends. You will enjoy using Approved Technology in Approved Ways. You will ignore everything beneath the interface, for what the Approved Technology is doing is Approved, and therefore not for you to interfere with."
Cf: The Anti-Mac Interface, for a bit of a tonic