axolotl@ultima.socs.uts.edu.au (Iain D. Sinclair) (11/09/90)
warren@debra.doc.ca (Warren Baird) writes: >Consider these two scenarios... > > I sit in my cyber-chair and log on. I am immediately presented > with an image of a psuedo-desk in front of me. There are > various three-dimensional icons (tricons???) on the desk, > including a phone to access email, a newspaper to read news, > and a box labeled "Lego" in case I need to do some modular, > object-oriented programming. I proceed with my day of work > much as I would now, under any GUI. > >It appears to me that the first scene is fairly close to our current >level of technology. Would anyone care to speculate on how close such >an environment is? (I intentionally wasn't very specific about >details, I am interested in anything that _appears_ similar to this.) It depends on what you are specifying. What exactly is a "cyber-chair"? I'll assume that your environment comes with goggles, eye trackers, datagloves and/or other input devices. I'll assume that the hardware is a workstation at the medium- to high-performance end of the market. The UI is a relatively simple matter. You have a 'solid' representation of the desk and the icons. Each can be manipulated with the input devices, using standard routines (not readily available, as yet). The question is: how extensible do you want your UI to be? What if you want to add (say) a "satellite dish" for telnet or other network facilities; how do you describe it? What are the range of operations that apply to it? Such an interface would be actually quite easy to partially code up in a short time, but its limitations would become all too obvious, all too quickly. The hardware already exists. It's just that it is not in common use or even available as such. It's also quite expensive -- very much a luxury for a single user. And there aren't many computing establishments in the world who will be willing to fork out for such a setup, unless it offers very significant productivity improvements. In short: This "first scene" is a long way from becoming a practical, widely available environment. Simply because it isn't commercially viable. To too many managers, VR is a costly gimmick best left untouched. And in fairness, that's all it (currently) is. Remember to differentiate the *promise from the *product*... -- Iain Dick Sinclair / axolotl@ultima. / Ever wonder why the one hole in your L________________,/ socs.uts.edu.au / watchband gets all the action?