Is this the future?

OK, do over.

is THIS the future?

I can't embed Vimeo here, but it's this dude's proposal for "completely new way of interacting with desktop computers".

+
10-finger touch pad, overall look and feel of the OS, the global menu accessible on the right, the local menu on the left

-
not sold on his method of organizing multiple windows.

Alternatively, is THIS the future?

http://i50.tinypic.com/2re4p4n.jpg

That video is so condescending that I only made it through two minutes, but basically it's a large multitouch pad that's the same size as the screen.

That's the first part, yeah, and then it goes into the actual demo about 5 minutes in.

I suppose that everyone at my work is so persistently condescending that I don't even notice anymore. It just sounds like a dude talking about his ideas to me.

I started off sceptical about multi-touch - how long does it take to get profficient at, say, guitar or piano? Are people going to put that amount of effort into their computers? No. But the one-two-three-four finger approach, using multiple fingers but as a single unit, seems like a really effective but simple idea.

Not so convinced about the scrolling-apps-on-desktop idea, doesn't seem like a better solution than taskbar or tiled/stacked windows.

Are people going to put that amount of effort into their computers? No.

People "practice" with their computers every day.

And think about the number of typing/"keyboarding" classes there are, both for schoolkids and beyond.

yeah i did think about that... but so many people can't type and wouldn't want to learn. and computers should be easy to use from the get-go, no practising necessary. well the minimum possible anyway.

My thoughts about multi-touch are that

1) more advanced computer users will take to it immediately
2) intermediate users will take to it more gradually, but they'll get there. I'm sure people were initially skeptical about other innovations that we now take for granted.
3) people (grandmas) who are already struggling are going to be left in the dust.

Just to simulate how annoying this is, try switching from the keyboard to the mouse with both hands. So unnecessary. Also if you've got enough coordination to do a global zoom with one hand and scroll a window with the other, get off Twitter and pick up an instrument

The thing is, though, 99% of the time you would just be using one hand multi-touch. You'd be using multiple fingers on that one hand, functioning as a sort of super-enhanced mouse, but your other hand would remain on the keyboard like it probably is now. I imagine that there would be some uses for full 10-finger interaction (the first that comes to mind is flash games, actually!) but I doubt it would come up that often.

Also if you've got enough coordination to do a global zoom with one hand and scroll a window with the other, get off Twitter and pick up an instrument

Wondering why anyone would want to do a global zoom and scroll at the same time.

FYI, to answer the thread's question: I believe that children are the future.

Future Shock might explain a few things:

http://io9.com/5981514/how-can-you-tell-if-someone-you-love-is-suffering-from-future-shock

from Charles Stross:

My working hypothesis to explain the 21st century is that the Tofflers underestimated how pervasive future shock would be. I think somewhere in the range from 15-30% of our fellow hairless primates are currently in the grip of future shock, to some degree. Symptoms include despair, anxiety, depression, disorientation, paranoia, and a desperate search for certainty in lives that are experiencing unpleasant and uninvited change. It's no surprise that anyone who can offer dogmatic absolute answers is popular, or that the paranoid style is again ascendant in American politics, or that religious certainty is more attractive to many than the nuanced complexities of scientific debate. Climate change is an exceptionally potent trigger for future shock insofar as it promises an unpleasant and unpredictable dose of upcoming instability in the years ahead; denial is an emotionally satisfying response to the threat, if not a sustainable one in the longer term

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/feds-seize-money-from-top-bitcoin-exchange-mt-gox/

you guys the future is so weird

Picturing a DHS guy walking out wearing virtual reality goggles and pretending to hold a bag of money in his hand.

about Charles Stross's hypothesis upthread: I think the failure of "the left" to ensure technology benefits us all could get worked in there.

Sometimes I really feel like, even if there is a God, maybe he is thinking to himself "Oh my, humans were a mistake - well, I'll just let them ruin things for themselves and then they will go extinct and I can start over. I do like that Mozart though. "
So many futurists say things like "if we are to survive we must reach the stars!" but who says we need to survive? I mean, I don't want the world to end but I'd say maybe 500 more years and we're probably done anyway. And what is the point of the human race surviving if we are living in misery, wars, poverty. etc..

Yeah, every time I hear talk about us visiting or colonizing other planets, my immediate thought is, "what the hell did another planet do to deserve the nightmare we've inflicted on Earth?"

So many futurists say things like "if we are to survive we must reach the stars!"

Why? We evolved on a perfectly good planet, well-equipped with everything we need for the survival of our species. We just need to stop fouling our own nest. As for an asteroid colliding with earth and wiping us out (shrugs) we have more pressing problems to deal with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCG926aQJcc

http://zidbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-Great-Filter.gif

Things are grand lads will ye fuckin chill out

Fattback is the future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnT1xgZgkpk

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Des0c9hU8AIm4Gq.jpg:large

impressive, but we most likely won't be here to see it.

gosh, in 250 million years, I should hope not

NEOM is the future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SwQAwpTaX4

War is peace! Freedom is slavery! Ignorance is strength! And Saudi Arabia is the benevolent guardian of Our Green Future!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMjSETXz0T8