If personal computer would be invented today… how it would be like?

One efective way of understanding something new is comparing with something you already know, through a metaphor.

The modern GUI on computers are based on a 70's metaphor, the desktop, files, folders, archives... This was how the engineers of that time made easier to users understand and interact with computers. They simulated their reality on the computer interface.

Macintosh advertising presenting the desktop metaphor

But its not the 70's anymore… We don’t use files, folders, archives… it’s a metaphor that don’t work anymore for the purpose it was invented back in the days, that was to help people to relate the reality with the way the computer works.

Do we need a new metaphor?

Maybe it’s not necessary anymore, we can see a example, on our mobile devices, take a look on the iOS.

iOS 8 — Separation of the office metaphor.

iOS killed the Office metaphor, your device has apps, and that’s it! The core of GUI is what you can do with it, every app is a function, an activity, with little or no real world metaphor, and it still easy to use!

Should desktop be like mobile?

Using a phone is different of using a desktop, the context is different. When youre on the move you take your phone of the pocket and check your facebook, send messages on whatsapp or listen to music on spotfy, and it usually takes less than 1 minute of interaction. When you sit on a desktop is to do work that can take hours, its complex work, you open 5 tabs on your browser, edit a spreadshett, a document, and edit some photos.

The nature of desktop is to work on data, to create something, and i believe this should be the center of it, apps or programs are the tools you use, but most of the time, you’re going to use more than one tool, and jumping beteween tools it’s a real pain...

Object Oriented User Interface

So, i believe a better approach is a GUI that have at its core the data, not the apps.

It should be like having a woodshop, the center is the wood, the furniture you’re making, you grab a tools, use it, and put aside. That’s it!

An approach to this goal is a Object Oriented User Interface, its design an interface without frames, just like the real world, where everithing exists in time and space, nothings just appears or desapears, every single byte of data has a visual representation, a size, weight, height, just like the real world it can interact with others objects, can be changed by tools.

How you think this GUI would look like?

Let me know if you see something like that, or if you want to talk and create this together.

If personal computer would be invented today… how it would be like?

Do we need a new metaphor?

Should desktop be like mobile?

Object Oriented User Interface

References