5 ms·

Today's computers seem to try very hard to draw a distinction between consuming content and being productive. These tasks tend not to share any skill sets at al

Today's computers seem to try very hard to draw a distinction between consuming content and being productive. These tasks tend not to share any skill sets at all. My much younger sister was a wizard at binge-watching YouTube videos on iOS at ~6. She used most of the features at her disposal: subscriptions, autoplay, voice search... but despite all of that practice, she never really got to using the keyboard, and is functionally incapable of typing a URL in a timely fashion, or structuring a text search for something full of homophones. She basically just gives up if it wouldn't work through voice search. I got into computers as an interest because on Windows 95, 98, 2000 for WorkGroups, and other contemporary Windows versions (we were not affluent), code of some sort was just a step or two away from using the machine at all. Most computers today (iPhones, WinRT, etc.) don't even have shell scripts on the desktop or a javascript console in the browser. Operating systems in the late '90s and early oughts gave an impression that there were consistent underlying concepts like files and processes or at least tasks. You used to be able to market your dual-core processor as being able to run more tasks simultaneously without trouble, nowadays you just tell the consumer it's "faster", and they don't understand why the same app runs slower on their new phone than the last.

freehunter 9y ago
To be fair about the keyboard thing, when I was born computers were programmed through punch cards, and I never learned how to use them. They switched to keyboards pretty quick after that. So to a 6 year old who can't use a keyboard... well I don't see keyboards disappearing quite that quick, but it's obvious that voice interaction is going to feature quite heavily into the future of computing.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  Right, but voice input will likely always suck as much for computers as it does for human beings. The keyboard, even the touch keyboard, is a better way to input any reasonably complex string. If people spend any time together that isn't recorded by Google, then they will have inside jokes, puns, portmanteaux (this word was not in my dictionary), and words that Google/M$/Apple simply haven't heard enough of to recognize. In an office environment, it is absolutely unacceptable for everyone to be using voice input to compose documents, comments, and emails.
  - freehunter 9y ago
    I’ve worked at companies who have said it would be absolutely unacceptable for everyone to have a computer at their desk. I’ve worked places where they said it would be absolutely unacceptable for everyone to have an internet connection at their desk. I’ve worked at places where everyone is constantly on the phone at their desk, and somehow they make it work. And I just noticed I’m breaking my rule of never responding to the kind of troll who would put “M$” to mean Microsoft so I’m going to end here. I’m sorry for wasting my time.
    - microcolonel 9y ago
      Geez, that's a pretty restrictive rule. M$ is for folks who remember just how many people got sued by Microsoft back in the day. No matter how tame they seem today, they have been positively aggressive in the past. It ultimately hurt them as much as it hurt the community, but they conducted themselves poorly. As for those other things, those are matters of personal distraction. It may not seem acceptable to have a computer or an internet connection at the desk, but that's a matter of self-discipline. Everyone talking all the time around you is something you can't overcome simply by disciplining yourself.
- skummetmaelk 9y ago
  The difference is that keyboards are better than punchcards in every way. Voice is inferior in almost every way.
  - soared 9y ago
    Voice: - hands free - quicker for short queries ("set a timer for 5 minutes") - quicker when precision is not necessary (voice to text can be quicker than typing) - doesn't require extra hardware - innate/intuitive skill, doesn't need to be learned/practiced - no need to point + click. Like terminal, input what you need and go directly there - accessibility is 100x better (kids, elderly, disabled)
    - khedoros1 9y ago
      Voice: - socially embarrassing - prohibitively imprecise (when is precision not necessary??) - low work, but also low quality - currently popular methods require some outside company handling your audio - also require a good network connection, which shouldn't be treated as a given These are all related to my own situation and preferences, of course, and I'm sure that there are some people where your list of positives vastly outweigh my list of negatives. No one's served well by assuming that everyone has the same requirements.
      - freehunter 9y ago
        I want to make it clear that I'm not specifically targeting you for this comment, it's more of a meta comment on the whole subject we're discussing. I find it interesting how people tend to get stuck to the current forms of technology and then become outraged when anyone dares challenge it. Who needs Windows, I boot straight to DOS. Windows N sucks, I'm going to stick with Windows N-1. Blackberry phones are useless and pretentious, I'm going to stick with Nextel. The iPhone is stupid, I need a physical keyboard. Bluetooth is awful, I need my headphone jack. The iPod is worse than a Nomad. The iPad is just a big iPhone. And now, apparently, voice control sucks, I'm happy with my on-screen keyboard. And as history shows us in nearly every one of those cases, us tech guys are typically the worst judge of how well a new technology will fare in the market and what consumers actually want.
- DrScump 9y ago
  I don't see a distinction with punch cards, as punch cards were just an added step between keyboard and input device. You still used a keyboard to input, although more slowly and with a more limited character set. Unless, of course, you had keypunch operator minions available. I preferred to do it myself, as it would take me longer to hand-print the contents into those little boxes.

freehunter 9y ago

To be fair about the keyboard thing, when I was born computers were programmed through punch cards, and I never learned how to use them. They switched to keyboards pretty quick after that. So to a 6 year old who can't use a keyboard... well I don't see keyboards disappearing quite that quick, but it's obvious that voice interaction is going to feature quite heavily into the future of computing.

microcolonel 9y ago
Right, but voice input will likely always suck as much for computers as it does for human beings. The keyboard, even the touch keyboard, is a better way to input any reasonably complex string. If people spend any time together that isn't recorded by Google, then they will have inside jokes, puns, portmanteaux (this word was not in my dictionary), and words that Google/M$/Apple simply haven't heard enough of to recognize. In an office environment, it is absolutely unacceptable for everyone to be using voice input to compose documents, comments, and emails.
- freehunter 9y ago
  I’ve worked at companies who have said it would be absolutely unacceptable for everyone to have a computer at their desk. I’ve worked places where they said it would be absolutely unacceptable for everyone to have an internet connection at their desk. I’ve worked at places where everyone is constantly on the phone at their desk, and somehow they make it work. And I just noticed I’m breaking my rule of never responding to the kind of troll who would put “M$” to mean Microsoft so I’m going to end here. I’m sorry for wasting my time.
  - microcolonel 9y ago
    Geez, that's a pretty restrictive rule. M$ is for folks who remember just how many people got sued by Microsoft back in the day. No matter how tame they seem today, they have been positively aggressive in the past. It ultimately hurt them as much as it hurt the community, but they conducted themselves poorly. As for those other things, those are matters of personal distraction. It may not seem acceptable to have a computer or an internet connection at the desk, but that's a matter of self-discipline. Everyone talking all the time around you is something you can't overcome simply by disciplining yourself.
skummetmaelk 9y ago
The difference is that keyboards are better than punchcards in every way. Voice is inferior in almost every way.
- soared 9y ago
  Voice: - hands free - quicker for short queries ("set a timer for 5 minutes") - quicker when precision is not necessary (voice to text can be quicker than typing) - doesn't require extra hardware - innate/intuitive skill, doesn't need to be learned/practiced - no need to point + click. Like terminal, input what you need and go directly there - accessibility is 100x better (kids, elderly, disabled)
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    Voice: - socially embarrassing - prohibitively imprecise (when is precision not necessary??) - low work, but also low quality - currently popular methods require some outside company handling your audio - also require a good network connection, which shouldn't be treated as a given These are all related to my own situation and preferences, of course, and I'm sure that there are some people where your list of positives vastly outweigh my list of negatives. No one's served well by assuming that everyone has the same requirements.
    - freehunter 9y ago
      I want to make it clear that I'm not specifically targeting you for this comment, it's more of a meta comment on the whole subject we're discussing. I find it interesting how people tend to get stuck to the current forms of technology and then become outraged when anyone dares challenge it. Who needs Windows, I boot straight to DOS. Windows N sucks, I'm going to stick with Windows N-1. Blackberry phones are useless and pretentious, I'm going to stick with Nextel. The iPhone is stupid, I need a physical keyboard. Bluetooth is awful, I need my headphone jack. The iPod is worse than a Nomad. The iPad is just a big iPhone. And now, apparently, voice control sucks, I'm happy with my on-screen keyboard. And as history shows us in nearly every one of those cases, us tech guys are typically the worst judge of how well a new technology will fare in the market and what consumers actually want.
DrScump 9y ago
I don't see a distinction with punch cards, as punch cards were just an added step between keyboard and input device. You still used a keyboard to input, although more slowly and with a more limited character set. Unless, of course, you had keypunch operator minions available. I preferred to do it myself, as it would take me longer to hand-print the contents into those little boxes.