61–70 of 73 posts
Despite plenty of studies showing multi tasking for humans is less efficient than single tasking ( e.g. http://news.stanford.edu/2009/08/24/multitask-research-study... ) here we are inventing new ways to be even more distracted.
Right now, I have two shell windows open, textmate, and two browser windows open -- one in jenkins, one in aws. But they're all related to the project I'm actively working on.
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Hopefully it is just a question of time before we have retina resolution even for panels that are a few inches from our eyes and magnified with optics.
Never mind properly using the hardware and its capabilities. A headtracking VR setup has other constraints than a static rectangle. Arranging overviews, subpanels, minor buffers could probably be improved. On the other hand, we still haven't escaped the VT100 in 99% of our IDEs so I'm not holding my breath for an ultra-immersive new-fangled "I can breathe code" style.
Just sort of pie-in-the-sky-- imagine a programming language that worked like a 3d spreadsheet, where your functions where literal 3d objects you could wire together, and the parameters had physical affordances so you could adjust them...
That's like looking a black and white movie on a color screen. Why are they still using a 2D window manager when we could take advantage of the full 3D spacial navigation?
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It's a false assumption that multiple windows equates to multitasking. Just because you have multiple applications open doesn't imply you are multitasking. This is an angle of VR that hadn't occurred to me other than entertainment.
Their product pitch is (I quote from their website); > Start multi-tasking with your virtual reality headset
Nothing to do with "multitasking" - instead of putting real, cost-$, monitors around you, just put virtual, free, monitors around - as many as you wish! Sounds like something awesome, but kinda impractical for now - at least not until the Oculus-grade headsets become the size of eyeglasses. I guess that should work great with AR headsets, since these won't constrain your situational awareness.
The bigger problem is pixel density. I've tried both the DK1 and the vive, and the vive is basically at the point where games are very playable. Some people complain about the "screen-door" effect, which basically translates to the pixels are so large that it's like you are looking a screen door. But in my experience that's not a problem. If you stop and concentrate you can see the pixels, and they are quite large, b…
Maybe it could replace a wall of monitors displaying surveillance footage in a security room. You could even do impossible things enlarge the screens with lots of movements, and shrink or fade out ones without any motion detected. Show each video feed overlaid on a map of the premises.
I have no idea exactly what daytraders are looking at, but I know it's a stereotype for them to have tons of monitors. You could spawn a few dozen virtual screens displaying charts, have indicators when a chart behind you changes within some rules you've defined (something similar to the "you're being shot from behind" indicator in shooter video games), maybe with different colors, shapes and scales depending on the rules you set.
There's probably a ton of potential being passed up just because these don't do text very well yet.
I just feel like it's a little early to be expecting users to go about multitasking like a desktop when we're still at a point in the evolution of VR tech where prolonged sessions of VR HMD use is not common behavior. Even getting users to put the headset back on after stepping away, is still a challenge. Not to mention the difficulties of reading text in VR among other issues.
That's not to say there isn't a use case for a multitask desktop in VR, it's just that this is a problem to be solved in the future. In the present, we simply need software that gives users a good reason to put the headset back on again after the novelty wears off
That's like looking a black and white movie on a color screen. Why are they still using a 2D window manager when we could take advantage of the full 3D spacial navigation?
uh, because a GUI based on a flat "desktop" metaphor with overlapping square interfaces works so damn well. And the places where the metaphor differs from a RL desktop its because its more convenient that way - say like how documents (windows) have no thickness or how its easier to look straight ahead with a 90° to a surface instead of downwards onto a desktop at an angle? this concept actually takes advantage of 3d…
That's like looking a black and white movie on a color screen. Why are they still using a 2D window manager when we could take advantage of the full 3D spacial navigation?
Most legacy apps are 2D surfaces. Or do you mean why the 2D windows are not composited more in the 3D space (they all seem to have the same Z depth)? Well, you would need a 3D input devices as precise as the veritable mouse, which they are using in this demo.
That's like looking a black and white movie on a color screen. Why are they still using a 2D window manager when we could take advantage of the full 3D spacial navigation?
What would a VR file manager look like to you, for example?
It would be interesting to try to tap into that. Maybe create different places with a way to navigate between them and place objects in them. It doesn't have to be exactly like reality, it would be too constraining otherwise. There could be shortcuts and different zoom levels to information.
Maybe there would be a static foreground like a desk that provides a work space and and reference anchor for the mind. And then the background could move independently, be a galaxy of information the user can sift trough using various tools.
One interesting development will be how symbolism will be developed. We need visual cues so we can recognize different kind of objects. This will help us navigate around and also know how to interact with each item. I don't think everything should be text, it's not be very practical in 3D.
But to answer your question, I don't think a file manager will exist (in the traditional sense). Right now each application takes over the whole environment but at some point there will be a second layer, a common environment that holds all the objects. This will be the normal OS-provided environment. The file manager will be replaced with tools that help you categorize and search the objects but it will be different because they would just interact with the universe like any other tool.
PS: Or maybe I'm thinking too much of Smalltalk