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VisionOS and the Future of Input
Ever since the computer first arrived, keyboard and mouse has been the standard. You have a flat surface with raised little squares that you smack with your fingers. You have another little rounded shape with a flat bottom you move around, and click with.
This awkward, clunky interface has significant culture war elements, in that an entire class of powerful people arose - specifically people who didn't have traditional status markers like height, strength, or indomitable physical presence. Instead these 'nerds' or 'geeks' or whatever you want to call them specialized themselves in the digital realm. Now, the Zuckerburgs and Musks of the prior generation rule the world. Or if they don't, they soon will.
These outdated interfaces seem perfectly normal to everyone who has only used them. Sure many people have used a controller for video games, and may think that controllers are superior for some cases, but not others. Keyboard and mouse is the only way to operate when it comes to a computer, most people surely imagine.
That being said, it's actually quite easy to dip your toes into alternate input methods. Talon is a system that utilizes voice to let you do practically anything on a computer. You can move the mouse, click on any object on your screen, dictate, edit text, and you can even code quite well. Talon's system even supports mapping operations, sometimes very complex ones, to custom noises you record on your own.
On top of that you can integrate eye tracking, using a relatively inexpensive device. If you've ever used voice control combined with eye tracking, you can operate around as fast as someone who is decent at using a keyboard and mouse.
If you have ever used these systems, you probably know that because most digital setups are built for keyboard and mouse, it's not necessarily perfect. Keyboard and mouse still hold the crown.
But. There is a certain magic to controlling a computer through your voice, or your eyes. It begins to open your mind to new possibilities, the idea that there are better, faster, easier, more natural ways of interfacing with a computer than the defaults we have been stuck with.
Enter Apple's VisionOS.
If you haven't seen the recent demo of Apple's new VisionOS they're breaking brand new ground. The entire OS is built around looking at things, and making minute hand motions to control the icons you're looking at. There are no controllers, no physical interfaces whatsoever besides your eyes and your hands. It's breathtaking to watch.
In a review from John Gruber, a well respected old head in the VR space and a creator of markdown, the possibilities behind this new technology are apparent. Gruber describes how
Now Apple does tend to get a ton of hype, but this reaction of being amazed by the experience is surprisingly common among earlier reviewers:
The implications of this 'spatial operating system' are varied and multitudinous, of course. There will be all sorts of productivity gains, and new ways of interacting with the digital world, and fun new apps. However I'm most interested in how this innovation could shift the balance of power back to the strong and physically capable, away from the nerds.
No longer will clunky interfaces make sense - instead computers will be optimized around healthy, fully functional humans. Ideally the most intuitive and common control schemes will reward physical fitness and coordination. Traits which nerds lack in droves.
Will we see a reversal of the popularity that being a nerd or geek has gained in the past few decades? Only time will tell.
If I wanted to talk to my goddamn machinery, I'd have a microphone. I don't. I don't want to tell the computer "move here, do that, turn on this, type out the other thing". I can do that quicker with my fingers, and I can type and think at the same time, rather than having to stop and work out what I want the thing to do.
Eye movement control sounds even more hideous: so blink at the wrong time, and you just deleted all that hour's work.
KILL IT WITH FIRE is my immediate reaction. I don't want "fun new apps", I want the apps I'm already using to work for me, not for the company using them to data scrape every millisecond of my life.
And how do they pick up on the "minute hand motions"? I am always sceptical of demos because they are so curated and cherrypicked and then polished up later to produce the best looking experience (that may not be the correct one; how many hours of messing around with the headset did they edit down to that ten minute demo?)
If I'm wearing only a headset and "navigating with my eyes", how does the headset pick up that I'm pinching my fingers? I get the impression that you have to hold your hand in a particular way in a particular field of motion or else it won't work. I'm dubious. EDIT: Ah right, the thing is ringed with cameras that can see all. Now I'm even more dubious about what those cameras are looking at and recording and sending back to Apple when I'm wearing my snazzy headset so I can work on a spreadsheet without typing, just pinching my finger and thumb like crab claws.
Now if all you have to work with is your voice and/or eyes, sure, this is great, now you can use the computer. But I'm going to dinosaur on with my keyboard for now.
Not necessarily, both reviews mentioned that the person wears glasses/uses contact lenses, so the headset was calibrated with their prescription (since you can't wear glasses and the headset at once). So they're already accommodating people with less than perfect eyesight, and if you have some mobility problem that you can't pinch your fingers, they'll probably invent something to adjust for that as well.
Hah, this is so hidebound and backward I can't tell if you're being serious. I could just as easily say "click at the wrong time, you just deleted an hours work!" Get real.
Unfortunately technology doesn't sit stagnant for long, as much as you want it to. Sorry to break it to you friend.
Not sure, but I linked two in-depth reviews from fairly popular writers that gush over it. There are far more people who have used it and find the control scheme incredibly intuitive and easy to pick up. That's with usually 30min - 1 hour demos.
You aren't forced to twitch your finger regularly. Get real. Sorry to break it to you friend.
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