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> the hardware's unreadiness really puts a damper on development efforts And regrettably it means that now, when COTS hardware components are arguably suffici

> the hardware's unreadiness really puts a damper on development efforts And regrettably it means that now, when COTS hardware components are arguably sufficient for HMDs to start competing with screens, there's no code, no widespread perception of need, and thus no clear market to target. And thus no hardware for sale. Bootstrap deadlock. Given the effect Minority Report's UI footage seemed to have on popular imagination, perhaps it might be helpful to have some nice demos? So say software devs can have a "I want that!" moment. And industry can have a "oh, well that, that we can build for you now" head-out-of- err, heads-up moment. Sent from my Lenovo Explorer WMR HMD running on an old laptop's integrated graphics. Simple custom stack. (But only briefly, so I could say that.)

jerf 8y ago
"Given the effect Minority Report's UI footage seemed to have on popular imagination, perhaps it might be helpful to have some nice demos?" Well, I think that might be a more minor contributor to the problem, but definitely a contributor. The Minority Report interface is utter garbage and I seriously doubt anything we build is going to look like that in the end. Vague gestures that even strong AI is unlikely to be able to correctly determine the target for reliably, arms held in positions that are completely impossible to be held in for any period of time, the entire "interface" is a usability nightmare. Screens far more separated than they should be... just because I can spread my workspace out over 210 degrees doesn't mean that's actually going to be a good idea. But it's not as cool if you have anything conventional in it. I'm playing the recent Switch The World Ends With You re-release. It has a mode where you nominally point the controller at the screen to control a cursor. But there's no optical component to it; it just centers when you hit a button and uses the accelerometer. So of course I don't sit there like a dope trying to point at the screen. The controller just sits in my hand where ever it is comfortable, and I twitch in the appropriate manner. It may be "pointed" 60 degrees off the actual screen, but it works fine. I have some similar stories for the Wii, where I still may have had to point the remote at the screen, but I certainly didn't play the games like the commercials. I played them in a much less awesome manner... but a much more comfortable one. The first Wii Golf was the funniest... eventually I settled on holding the remote pointing straight up, and wiggling it back and then forward again for my stroke. It was not exactly a realistic interpretation of how one swings a golf club. Exquisite control compared to trying to do it the "right" way, though. The second Wii Golf got smart enough that didn't work anymore. What's a real pity is that there probably is a really cool demo waiting for this. It just involves thinking a bit more creatively.
- mncharity 8y ago
  I'm sorry, I was unclear. I agree the Minority Report UI was poor. But seeing it, seemed to get people talking. People who normally wouldn't think about possibilities for future UIs. It seemed to fire imagination, to create anticipation. It had random TV news people talking about UI design. My impression is an "Iron Man" UI was similar. So UI demos, at least in blockbuster movies, can create popular interest. There currently seems an absence of anticipation for VR/AR "office work" screen-replacement UIs. And there is currently a failure to market VR hardware with tradeoffs made with that focus, rather than for gaming. I was speculating that we might get such hardware sooner, by creating a perception of a market worth attending to, by increasing popular anticipation, by making demos. Because waiting to get it as a side-effect of gaming tech has already cost a year or few, and seems likely to cost more than a couple more. I'd rather not lose a decade unnecessarily waiting. I can't spare one, and it's not clear society can either. Regards controllers, oh yes. Remember skeuomorphic design for user interfaces? Things should look like their physical counterparts? A calendar app should have a worn leather border? To ease on-boarding of all the new users not yet trained on phones? I suggest VR is in its skeuomorphic design phase. In contrast, my own interest is in expert UIs for all-day every-day use. So as you say, they are minimum-viable-twitch ergonomics. And any resemblance to the physical world, with its many and unmotivated constraints, is a design smell. But people are focused on gaming, training, CAD, and tours, and Reality is even part of the name. While aphysical UIs seem clearly the way to go, for much non-novice use.
- mncharity 8y ago
  > thinking a bit more creatively. Do you think there would be any interest in a demo gif of a laptop with "mouse ear" mirrors, providing parallax to a laptop webcam with a clip-on fisheye, for high-resolution hand and chopstick tracking?

jerf 8y ago

"Given the effect Minority Report's UI footage seemed to have on popular imagination, perhaps it might be helpful to have some nice demos?" Well, I think that might be a more minor contributor to the problem, but definitely a contributor. The Minority Report interface is utter garbage and I seriously doubt anything we build is going to look like that in the end. Vague gestures that even strong AI is unlikely to be able to correctly determine the target for reliably, arms held in positions that are completely impossible to be held in for any period of time, the entire "interface" is a usability nightmare. Screens far more separated than they should be... just because I can spread my workspace out over 210 degrees doesn't mean that's actually going to be a good idea. But it's not as cool if you have anything conventional in it. I'm playing the recent Switch The World Ends With You re-release. It has a mode where you nominally point the controller at the screen to control a cursor. But there's no optical component to it; it just centers when you hit a button and uses the accelerometer. So of course I don't sit there like a dope trying to point at the screen. The controller just sits in my hand where ever it is comfortable, and I twitch in the appropriate manner. It may be "pointed" 60 degrees off the actual screen, but it works fine. I have some similar stories for the Wii, where I still may have had to point the remote at the screen, but I certainly didn't play the games like the commercials. I played them in a much less awesome manner... but a much more comfortable one. The first Wii Golf was the funniest... eventually I settled on holding the remote pointing straight up, and wiggling it back and then forward again for my stroke. It was not exactly a realistic interpretation of how one swings a golf club. Exquisite control compared to trying to do it the "right" way, though. The second Wii Golf got smart enough that didn't work anymore. What's a real pity is that there probably is a really cool demo waiting for this. It just involves thinking a bit more creatively.

mncharity 8y ago
I'm sorry, I was unclear. I agree the Minority Report UI was poor. But seeing it, seemed to get people talking. People who normally wouldn't think about possibilities for future UIs. It seemed to fire imagination, to create anticipation. It had random TV news people talking about UI design. My impression is an "Iron Man" UI was similar. So UI demos, at least in blockbuster movies, can create popular interest. There currently seems an absence of anticipation for VR/AR "office work" screen-replacement UIs. And there is currently a failure to market VR hardware with tradeoffs made with that focus, rather than for gaming. I was speculating that we might get such hardware sooner, by creating a perception of a market worth attending to, by increasing popular anticipation, by making demos. Because waiting to get it as a side-effect of gaming tech has already cost a year or few, and seems likely to cost more than a couple more. I'd rather not lose a decade unnecessarily waiting. I can't spare one, and it's not clear society can either. Regards controllers, oh yes. Remember skeuomorphic design for user interfaces? Things should look like their physical counterparts? A calendar app should have a worn leather border? To ease on-boarding of all the new users not yet trained on phones? I suggest VR is in its skeuomorphic design phase. In contrast, my own interest is in expert UIs for all-day every-day use. So as you say, they are minimum-viable-twitch ergonomics. And any resemblance to the physical world, with its many and unmotivated constraints, is a design smell. But people are focused on gaming, training, CAD, and tours, and Reality is even part of the name. While aphysical UIs seem clearly the way to go, for much non-novice use.
mncharity 8y ago
> thinking a bit more creatively. Do you think there would be any interest in a demo gif of a laptop with "mouse ear" mirrors, providing parallax to a laptop webcam with a clip-on fisheye, for high-resolution hand and chopstick tracking?