Can you believe it? Windows very first GUI interface changed it all. (I know that Apple had it first, but you have to admit that Windows spread it to the masses.).
Thirty-five years ago, on Nov. 20th, 1985 was the day they released Windows 1.0. (It didn’t become really usable until long after that.) But that makes the modern computing age, the age of the colorful, interactive, graphical user interface era, officially in middle age!
What’s next? What will the next big computing revolution look like? Many think it will be 3D immersive experience. (Think ‘oculus’ type of experience, only better.)
“Presence” is the term used for helping people both feel like and interact with the outside world by using technology. It is both an emotional connection, and a physical connection. To truly experience “presence”, Wikipedia reports that the following are required elements:
- A wide field of view (80 degrees or better)
- Adequate resolution (1080p or better)
- Low pixel persistence (3 ms or less)
- A high enough refresh rate (>60 Hz, 95 Hz is enough but less may be adequate)
- Global display where all pixels are illuminated simultaneously (rolling display may work with eye tracking.)
- Optics (at most two lenses per eye with trade-offs, ideal optics not practical using current technology)
- Optical calibration
- Rock-solid tracking – translation with millimeter accuracy or better, orientation with quarter degree accuracy or better, and volume of 1.5 meter or more on a side
- Low latency (20 ms motion to last photon, 25 ms may be good enough)
(This is from a message by Michael Abrash at Steam Dev Days.)
Sounds interesting enough, and the question is how it will get translated into useful technology for the masses. It is currently being used in many scientific and medical ventures and uses, but will it ever replace the cursor and mouse, with true human interactivity on the computer desktop?
We will check back with you in another 35 years and see what happened.