Interfaces

I've thought for quite some time that computer interfaces need a lot of work. When I was employed as a mainframe performance tech (and I realize that saying 'mainframe' not only dates me but puts serious doubt about the level of my technical skills), I used a product called Omegamon, from the Candle Corporation (since acquired by IBM). Its primary interace was a text-based display whose sole nod to current interface possibilities was multi-colored text, flashing text, and crude text-based graphics. When the product went through two levels of upgrade, to the Omegamon II and Omegamon Command Center levels, the basic interface didn't change much -- the graphics were still fairly crude, though better than they had been, and the underlying engine was still the original Omegamon. Candle/IBM has come out with a new, improved version of the product, called Omegamon XE, which is client/server based. That gave me hope that they'd finally hired some smart, creative folks to built a better interface, but that didn't really happen. Its pretty kludgy, and, of course, not nearly as powerful, intuitive, or effective in the monitoring and control of system operation as the marketing literature would lead one to believe.

By contrast, this article , titled Doom as a Tool for System Administration, outlines a delightfully innovative and damn creative method of performing that function. In it, the author describes a project he executed to configure and use the Doom game as a metaphor for the operation of his system. His intent was to create a simple, intuitively obvious interface to a cluttered, powerful system, so that the user didn't have to know the system internals; they simply (and I know that this wasn't simple) had to know what they wanted to do with the system -- what actions they wanted to take. If you understood how Doom was intended to be used, you could control this fellows system, because the metaphors were virtually (no pun intended) the same. The author went on to make several interesting points about problems and considerations. I'm fascinated by this, and wish that this level of programming insight were more common.

Additionally, this article, which is from the BBC news service, describes a series of events in the popular World of Warcraft game, wherein a plague struck the simulated community. The participants reacted as they would have in the solid world, aiding other players, or running away from possible infection, or even deliberately infecting other players. The article includes comments and observations by a researcher from Tufts University, which hopes to use further 'real simulations' to evaluate disease propagation and response models. This is not so much interfaces as the other article, but it is still the use of artificial worlds to perform real world functions and analysis. As such, it is fascinating work, and I'm delighted to see it.