10/GUI - 10 Finger Multitouch User Interface

[robenghuse]

I think Apple is going to use some of these ideas in the future. Apple loves touch and would like to bring it to their desktops. But I do not believe they are going to release one with a touchable screen. There is a patent Apple has that allows the user use their hands on the desk, a bit Kinect-like. Lion is not yet ready for full touch control. We might see a full touch redisgn in OSXI ?

[FrozenBagels]

Apple's Exposé is a great way to remove window clutter limitations imo.

[wweWrestlingVEVO]

how can we game with this thing???

[nunogirao]

You are doing something for the new Windows 8 Metro GUI, aren't you? ;) The concept is there. Now, give us the big «boardpad» and multiple mouse pointers. I'm so tired of not having transparent hands.

[miami305blk]

this is pretty impressive the same solutions that are slowly trickling down from android ios and windows phone put in a neat nui

[Magnetohydrodynamics]

You guys know that you can do this with webcams and linux, if you have the skills...

[mickrussom]

These new age GUIs suck. Hard. All the apps are highly over simplified. I use complex applications and all these demos have clowns like reading email or in the case of this demo mindlessly scribbling garbage in a mspaint clone.

Show me you doing things faster in a photoshop or illustrator app, mister UI hero. You cant. This multitouch crap is for lame apps. Im no buying this poppycock.

[KnightChatX]

Used in this way touch is also ok for basic email and instant messaging, web browsing and book/manual reading, and application icon navigation and photo browsing or media playback.

[KnightChatX]

Just bring the touch screen closer to the person, and keep using a keyboard and mouse normally as well for typing and other interaction.

This other stuff is way too complicated and bulky, 5 and 10 finger stuff, it shoves the keyboard way ahead of the touchpad.

Touch screen are good for quick access to basic features requiring only a few mouse clicks normally in limited menu windows or desktop/phone screens.

Better for pulling up things like weather, launching applications, some games.

[WarpeaceWar6]

looks like lion. I know this came out first. Apple must have watched this vid and chosen to include this brilliant idea of multitasking into their os. Can't blame them.

[theNerdGamer88]

so , this is a keyboard track pad ? all in just one ?

the idea is kinda cool , but i love the sound of my macbook's keyboard .

[atreyu179]

A couple of things:

First of all, cool idea. It's great to see people challenge existing standards to improve workflow and ease of use in the computing world.

However, does this replace a keyboard? Having a keyboard -and- a multi-touch pad could clog up a lot of desk space. And virtual keyboards without tactile feedback could make the user feel frustrated for often hitting the wrong keys.

Also, what about people with hand birth defects or finger amputees? How would they handle this system?

[SummaPlusANumberGrrr]

find it hard to see how gaming would work on this...I know it seems silly but I think that's pretty important if you want to sell a computer product..

[lowtone10]

yay the source for con10uum has been released! now ive got to find a massive touchpad

[BrianAndBethany]

Awesome but with that gigantic touchpad where does that keyboard go?

[ro1ri]

10 fingers GUI already exist, it's called a keyboard !

You know, that thing too old and only for old geeks who uses VIM or Emacs, so old, do anti-technocrat, but when you're speaking about how fast you do the job, it just pwnd all your crap 3D stuff ...

[NeroSNT]

pretty nice

[AlexShinkareff]

what is the OS?

[Vanit1]

@AlexShinkareff It could be done on any recent version of Windows. You just have to write an alternative to explorer.exe

[lowtone10]

@AlexShinkareff icons look like kde (linux or possibly bsd) They seem to have made a functioning gui and linux/bsd seems the obvious choice

[lowtone10]

@AlexShinkareff actually the current public release is windows only, which seems illogical as changing window managers is much easier on linux

[Daghead]

@AlexShinkareff Its a concept :P

[yo6ial]

@Daghead It's a GNU/Linux 99.9% for sure.

I smell in that UI a bit of Compiz for compositing, a bit of KDE for decorating and widget...ing and a touch of Enlightenment for the inherit linearity . ;)

Even if there is no piece of actual KDE or Compiz code in there, I'm sure these served as how-to examples.

[QwoPhasaArius]

What you've watched here is marketing pitching, not innovation. The real change is seen from the community, driven by people like you and me with no financial invested interests in mind. Not the commercial developers.

[Djhg2000]

I think this is a great idea, but the world just isn't ready yet.

What I mean is; I see the potential benefits here, but how many computers will have a touch pad this big in front of them within 3 years?

I think you need to start on a small scale with laptop touch pads, some of them have multi touch and while it's way too small to be used efficiently, it's good enough for a proof of concept.

[Vix847]

Song?

[TenSpeedOfCoheed]

FUND IT

[mickrussom]

@TenSpeedOfCoheed It would need funding because nobody would buy this crap.

[xxRazorJadexx]

RELATIVE POSITIONING.

I only use my fingers to move the mouse, because of this. I can lift the mouse, set it back a little bit, and repeat movements to move the cursor across the screen, while only moving the mouse about an inch. With this, every time I want to close a window, my hand will have to move like 30 centimeters. The Wii is fun, but people really don't like extra work when they're already working on something. Those of you saying this is great, you'll get sick of it after a week.

[QwoPhasaArius]

@xxRazorJadexx Exactly.Pragmatically I dont want to use both of my hands when I can do the same tasks with less movement and commitment just as efficiently. If something isn't broken, don't fix it. The mouse is in no need of innovation. The input is flawless, the GUI it's self is not. The focus here is on the hardware as the issue for sales purposes.GUI issues can be solved with some free software. Like all new innovations, these will be picked up very slowly by the big boys as "best new thing".

[QwoPhasaArius]

@xxRazorJadexx A combination of Launchy or similar, tabbed folder browsing and the optional litestep system shell or similar absolutely floors anything offered as default in out-of-the box OSs. Launchy handles any folders or aps - no need for "browsing" through clutter and real estate restrictions. Tabbed folder windows deals with mess, while the shell keeps the screen order with the taskbar.

[msqrt]

Start browsing and you'll miss that mouse again. To this day, I've never seen a touching interface win the mouse when used for anything else than drawing.

[optical10]

please please please please please please make this happen....... how can I follow you on twitter?

[statquo112]

windows lets you arrange them the way that you wanted, unlike this huge tiles of two dimensional horizontal arrangement.

Just add multitouch to win 7 then its good.

[Epsio0]

I really like the idea... but when the showed us it's physical apprearance (or concept), I can't help but laugh at what I'm seeing; I giant mouse pad that you get on laptops >.<

But it's an interesting concept

[mdchachi]

Seems to make a lot of sense. One limitation I'd like to see addressed is how to work with multiple windows at the same time. A typical use case is, I'm creating a document (say a presentation) while looking at some information in another application (say a browser, or photo or something). I usually arrange my windows to allow me to view whatever I need to view simultaneously.

[trapsmv9]

Welcome to the future. It's not perfect, but it's an awesome start.

[joegnemmi]

10-finger touchpad I like. Why not have just one simple touchscreen surface which also serves as a keyboard (for example, when you enter into a textbox), which is reprogrammable for different alphabets and keyboard layouts (Dvorak, for example).

I prefer Exposé (with a dash of Cover Flow) to Con10uum. Con10uum limits the user to one-dimensional thinking. If there was a way to show all of the windows at once, that would be preferable. Easier on a bigger screen.

[mickrussom]

@joegnemmi Expose was just killed by apple for a crappy lame thing called Mission Control.

[ToeKnee126]

this is 100% genius. i genuinely hope that this exact GUI finds its way to the market within my lifetime.

[30bazz]

this video was pretty good i liked there approach on multi-touch

[WIN7GT]

Hmmm... Rotated "titlebar" text would be hard to read.

[Rymac91]

I honestly think that the UI is very impressive, but it's not a very intuitive way to switch between windows or applications It doesn't even factor in the whole mess that tabs or toolbars create on a window based UI. This interface does however make working with widescreen monitors a bit more reasonable.

[iGlide4]

This is going to be an amazing start to the future!

[ElNerdoLoco]

I love this concept! But why keep the keyboard? Why not have the touchpad be another display device to assist with things like typing? It would be difficult to make this main stream, but I see a way to slowly make it happen. How long until the Ipad has an application to turn it into a multitouch input device for your desktop?

Seriously, Ipad app developers. Get on that. You can take credit for the idea.

[mickrussom]

@ElNerdoLoco Ill be busy working while you fumble with a pile of multitouch stupidity. I use multitouch every day, but this is just over simplifying. Its like the apps all limit you to producing simplistic crap because we think that the whole minority report window scene has to become reality despite the fact it may never be actually productive or produce a complex interface capability.

[YvesIsaki]

This is cool but not good enough. Not satisfactory for my multi-tasking demands.

Computers just need to read our minds and everything needs to be like Ghost In The Shell - problem solved!

[Dragonheart7000]

Have any challenges come up in terms of accessibility when doing usability testing? How could this scale with someone who doesn't have all their fingers?

[bcapecci]

They arnt being that innovative. Everyone knows traditional ui sucks including the user but society is to unwilling to relearn. Change must be adopted universally and by this I mean standardization of all gestures, general navigation scheme etc. Cool though

[der8lub]

@bcapecci I totally agree, that "change" must be adopted universally - speaking to all UI and UX designers out there...

[bcapecci]

The problem is people are working independently. Even in communities like nuigroup innovations don't harmonize. 10/gui is just another example of a idealistic individualized approach that simply wont get consumers interested. Everybody is wowed by the problems as presented here and by people like Jeff Han but the solutions end up not that much more productive and very gimmicky. Eventually MT implementations that will be accepted are those such as apples magic mouse and microsofts surface.

[RetrooHD]

What they need to do is make two different touch pads on the left and right of a keyboard, so everything can be within comfortable reach.

[OpticalFascism]

Looks like the "visionary" designer never heard about Wacom touch- and graphic tablets. I also can't imagine that people want to learn all the finger gestures by heart, some people need icons that tell them what they do.

[iDeufi]

XeroX is Apple's daddy. But Apple thinks he's adopted.

[kubwimana]

so when can i get my hands on one

[digitaldown]

that would take some getting used to. but i can see the potential.

[Omerulez]

Wow, That Looks Great!

[micgasolina]

Amazing.... this is the end of poor mouse!

I would swap straight away... right now!

Geez I had an old NoteBook touch screen with windows 98 and thats was awesome!

Imagine that on a Mac OS .... wow I wanna it!

[felipebuiu]

Indeed the one-dimensional window management is a bit controversial, however the whole idea is fantastic! I would buy it with the two-dimensional "traditional" window management we have today. Multi-touch interfaces are gonna be the future of user interaction

[freedirk]

Take a look at the website connected to this, you will see the man behind this IDEA is a designer. Not a programmer. He is basically asking people who have the knowledge to pick this idea up & run with it. Its not a complete system, its a start point for someone that is interested in how to make something like this work.

I think Its a fantastic idea, but clearly has things to be worked out. Perhaps 2 rows of windows would make it better for multi tasking.

[trenson89]

I really like this idea and hope it will replace the mouse. Though I think the keyboard can be replaced as well by this system...

[enantiomer2000]

fake

[der8lub]

lol

[YaknowWat]

This is easily implementable.

Grab a bit of 3D compositing bind it with a multi touch driver.

Make some quick apps for the functions and a version 1 exist.

The issue is getting a keyboard like that.

[deadmeh]

How would video games work with this? I also don't like the super huge keyboard they showed at the end.

[benjaminvdvyt]

I'm guessing a mouse or a controller will always be prefered over this for games, but with everything else this should work great.

[micgasolina]

I imagine this system also as an big iPhone screen... and when u need to use the keyboard.. and virtual keyboard shows up...and when u need to use it as a scroll or mouse... it changes to touch area only...thats will be the best way!

[deadmeh]

I like to 'feel' my keyboard I wouldn't understand how this would work if you dont' know what your hiting. It might work for people who don't know how to type and have to look down, but otherwise it wouldn't work.

The only way this would work is if they replaced only the mouse with like a tablet. Wacom already created a multi touch tablet that works for pc. So I don't see the point.

[EpsilonVector]

The point is that all the multi touch devices today still run programs and desktop environments that are designed for a mouse and keyboard, thus do not take advantage of the possibilities that come with touch technology,

You're right about the keyboard though. I don't think physical keyboards will be replaced any time soon.

[opensuse11]

@deadmeh God... YOu sure haven't looked at the whole video. Look at 8:00. There is a real keyboard...

[YaknowWat]

I'd imagine over time they'd fuse together. Such a keyboard provides compatibility with people not used to such a keyboard mouse concept.

[YaknowWat]

As for games they are currently designed for mice interaction.

A special keyboard mouse mode driver would work quite well.

Ex: reading the palm as area for mouse and moving your palm on the surface emulates moving the mouse and picking up your finger and dropping it back down is like clicking. ( Image it on your desk in small space palm for moving , left finger for left click middle two fingers act as a middle button controller and pinky for right click.)

[YaknowWat]

You may also notice with a flat surface design you can actually click some milliseconds faster, because your finger doesn't need to do excess bending, useful in FPS's.

[mickrussom]

@deadmeh No, all video games become angry birds because real and cool video games cant be mapped to multimoron interfaces like this.

[Viclavik]

Anyone remember the movie Minority Report, when I first saw Tom Cruise's character manipulating the future version of a PC I was amazed at the speed and the intelligent design, it looked as though it could easily exist in the real world. Now I know that it has and does and is not science fiction but science fact. Fascinating.

[v3rn3n]

I like the way that iTunes scrolls through album covers, or Safari scrolls through history in a page-turning kind of way.

Still, I might like to have several options for stacking windows.

That said, I'd LOVE to use this.

[crxtreme89]

It's sad really that people have one track minds when it comes to new technology. They don't want to learn something new even though something like this can really speed up how quickly we can attack any project that needs to be completed on a computer. There is so much more than meets the eye with the ten finger touchscreen. Just wait until other great minds put their heads together and create billions of applications that have been waiting for this very technology. Kudos bigtime!

[xxRazorJadexx]

@crxtreme89 That's bullshit. How on earth can you think waving your arms around a foot and a half each time is easier than pressing alt-tab? Also, for the pinching/zooming function, there is going to have to be a HUGE threshold for the zoom, otherwise every little variance in our fingers relative position to each other will shake the window. The pinch motion will have to be like 9 inches wide, but OH NOES, you have to use 3 fingers to zoom windows!

[mickrussom]

@xxRazorJadexx Unlike him, you probably do real work with a computer and dont obsess over that window-scene in the movie Minority Report.

[mickrussom]

@crxtreme89 Nope. It will slow down productivity. Otherwise , would have seen fawning and clamoring for wacom tablets years ago.

Notice this douche scribbles rubbish in mspaint clone. He couldn't eve do some real work in Illustrator or Photoshop. Sad. Its all mindless drivel and app menus are childish. Nothing serious can get done. This is the McDonalds of computing, itll be popular, but it sucks and its inferior.

[britoca]

this linear window management is nonsense. 2D multi-window interfaces are NOT "messy" and it's not hard to find what you're looking for! Ever heard of a TASKBAR??? That's what it's for, to know what u have running and get to it easily if necessary. I sit here at work with about 15 programs running and alt-tab, or glancing at the taskbar and clicking the program button does the job just fine...

Apart from that, the multi-touch interface is very interesting and shows potential.

[alheadbme]

I think the inability to stack windows vertically is a problem. Text flows horizontally, so placing windows side by side forces a trade off between text size and the ability to view an entire line at a time.

Also, the method of swiping left and right to navigate through windows isn't much different from Alt-Tab, except in that it requires more movement. A taskbar (like in Windows or various Linux distros) seems like it would be useful here.

[omenatope]

@alheadbme

I disagree with your second paragraph: there is nothing that prevent the use of atl-tab. One could easily assume that keyboard shortcuts are mostly unaffected by this. What you see in this video is simply the way to do stuff using only the touch interface

[vKrayToR]

Oh my goodness. If this is worked on properly, these people are going to make trillions.

[xMistsx]

Now all we need is a better/faster voice recognition =)

[toosas]

i suggest a version just for the right/left hand side (or both sides) to replace the mouse, gamers wont like the in front of the keyboard panel. i can see how this could replace the mouse.. keep the pad, use your fingers instead of the mouse :)

[sirpeto]

I think it's a rather brilliant video, however I think the use of ten fingers goes wasted when all the interface could do can be achieved with only three fingers. Look again.

However, kudos to the research!

[bburl]

4 problems: 1)People are creatures of habit 2)learning new skills is hard for most people 3)moreover most people REALLY don't like learning computer stuff 3)it will cost a lot more . The vast majority of users learn only what they absolutely have to in order to do what they need to do when it comes to computers. And the current configuration of mouse + keyboard + screen is good enough for 99% of users. Multi touch will remain a geek niche product for the foreseeable future.

[mickrussom]

@bburl At least with file menus and mouses you can FIND thing. You have to be shown and there is no way to "figure out" gestures. Its insane. And all this to make people who cant even use a command line prompt happier being stupid.