Steve Capps not happy with current UI's

octane

octane

I have issues, OK!
Finder architect Steve Capps seems to be a little miffed with the current crop of user interfaces out and about on a desktop near you!

"I feel both the Mac and Windows are asymptotically approaching the same level of mediocrity," Capps says. "In this day of instant messaging, camera phones and ubiquitous connectivity, do we really need a word-processor view of the world (a.k.a. files and folders)? The desktop user interface is close to becoming as commonplace and as unexciting as typewriter user interfaces*were 50 years ago."
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octane said:
Finder architect Steve Capps seems to be a little miffed with the current crop of user interfaces out and about on a desktop near you!
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I do agree, but I don't find his own work any better. The Newton interface is probably the most clumsy one ever, and I can't say much positive about Internet Explorer.
 
ksv said:
I do agree, but I don't find his own work any better. The Newton interface is probably the most clumsy one ever, and I can't say much positive about Internet Explorer.
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Really?????? I loved my newton interface. i thought it was well thought out. now the Palm OS.... that is just crap. i stopped using it cause it was so bad.
 
I also found the Newton to be intuitive.

I own a Palm Zire and I think the UI is not also intuitive, but highly reminiscent of the Newton .. strange that, isn't it?..
 
Add Capps to the growing list of ex-apple creators who are highly critical but have done nothing of note since their departure. Perhaps Caps Jef Raskin and others can form a reunion. The next big thing will come but it won't be from some middle aged man waxing poetic about the past. It'll be from a bright eyed bushy tailed youngster looking at the world from a new perspective.
 
hmurchison, I agree 100%. it's amazing how these "better ideas" come from people after they've left the company that could have been the one where their opinions and influence could have been best utilized.

maybe Apple management suppressed them while they were there? *giving an escape clause to their fans.
 
You're most likely to hear these people spout disparaging and uncomplimentary remarks about Apple et al, yet you rarely hear them talk about how they were a part of one of the most significant decades in computing history .. while working for one of the most influential companies in computing history.

It all boils down to dismissive, egotistical posturing...
 
I'm a bright eyed bushy tailed youngster with a new perspective. Sort of. I'm really good at coming up with new ideas that are outside the box but have difficulties implementing them. But the GUI's only an idea on paper now and I don't know hardly an code yet (I suppose it will come in time). It doesn't use files and folders, or at least you don't ever need to see them. Hypothetically if someday the stars align and I get around to putting it together (Maybe even an OS) I don't know whether I should make it open source or not. I know the obvious response is yes, I like free stuff too, but I'm a little worried about my financial future. How do the linux people pay for their servers and what not. Not by profit on CD's and T-shirts I hope. This is all just a infatuation really so don't get your hopes up too much, but still a possibility. Thanks.
 
We have an old expression; don't put the cart before the horse.

Before you do anything, you might want to create some simple prototypes in something like html or if you have the time and experience, in Macromedia Flash.

Once you've done this, get people sat in front of it and show them through it.

The reason the file / folder / desktop metaphor works is because it's still relevant. Steve Capps argues that it isn't, I'm not sure I wholly agree with him.

However, there are so many different types of data these days, the desktop metaphor is looking a little tired.

What these 'visionaries' fail to comprehend is the entrenched use of the desktop metaphor. Every major ISV has built their entire business around that one way of doing things.

Though such a departure might well be an success in terms of ergonomics, it may be a commercial disaster.

And lets face it, Apple don't have the inertia to carry off such a venture. Microsoft do, and should they choose to change things, then the world would have to move with them.

The sad thing is, Apple may just have to follow suit just to keep up...
 
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