
From Transportation to Pixels (history and future of Microsoft 'Metro') - johns
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/02/16/from-transportation-to-pixels.aspx
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kevinburke
Stealing UI ideas from movies is a really, really bad idea. Movie user
interfaces generally have horrible usability. They're part of the reason that
the early Web had so many 3D interfaces and flashy graphics, because managers
thought they looked cool even though no one could use them.

More here: <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/film-ui-bloopers.html>

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unwind
Amazing that such a reputable source includes the Jurrasic Park classic ("This
is a Unix system. I know this") without also pointing out that the application
shown in that scene is indeed a real program, FSN from Silicon Graphics.

See [http://www.siliconbunny.com/fsn-the-irix-3d-file-system-
tool...](http://www.siliconbunny.com/fsn-the-irix-3d-file-system-tool-from-
jurassic-park/) for more information.

With that in mind, I don't think it's at all unreasonable that a 12-year old
drops the distinction between "a Silicon Graphics system" and "Unix".

Of course, it might be a bit beside the point to nag about factual problems in
a movie about reborn dinosaurs. :)

~~~
rbanffy
Obviously, any SGI geek would say "This is IRIX. I know this". ;-)

No self-respecting Unix hacker (or an IRIX one) would navigate through a
filesystem using FSN.

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rbanffy
I found the idea of letting the interface disappear in the middle of the
information a very interesting idea.

But the idea of borrowing UIs from science fiction is downright suicidal. Form
follows function, not fashion.

~~~
wladimir
Whereas I agree that a lot of 'TV' (not only scifi) user interfaces are
nonsense (For example, in CSI, why do they show random fingerprints and photos
while querying the database?), a lot of ideas from science fiction have been
used for actual technology. It can be good ideas, or bad ideas, but you cannot
say in general that they are bad or 'downright suicidal'...

Only as soon as the technology makes it possible to actually execute the
ideas, we can test whether they make sense or not... (Don't forget the
Minority Report style interfaces that 'everyone' seems to want these days)

(BTW: I wonder why the post in this topic by Hov, which mentions that tablets
look a lot like the devices used in Star Trek, is killed?)

~~~
rbanffy
I think CSI qualifies as bad scifi. Not only the user interfaces are
ludicrous, but they also employ "sufficiently advanced technology" in just
about every episode.

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toddmorey
First, I think you mean "skeuomorphic". But I don't agree that the absence of
texture is the obvious and only future of UI.

Font, color, texture, shape... these are all tools that great designers--just
like great painters--use well. Both the abundance and absence of those
elements can be overdone. (Sometimes in all-type interfaces, it's really hard
to know what to click on, for example.)

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stcredzero
There's some bit in the comments about wanting the Desktop OS to adopt some of
the ideas, and the mobile team taking jabs at desktop. Ironically, Apple is in
a better position for ideas to flow from mobile to desktop. Apple and Android
would be well served from a UX standpoint to move from their tool-centric view
to a content/information centric one, but I'm a little hazy on how one
supports a market and developer ecosystem without a lot of tool-awareness in
the UI.

