Is the WIMP interface obsolete?
WIMP stands for windows, icons, menus, pointing device. It is the way computer interfaces have been constructed since the Alto system was first packaged at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. First Apple and then Microsoft adopted WIMP and it is the way we are still doing things nearly four decades later. It is a prime example of how static the basic setup of the PC has been.
The users of PCs are now totally different from those technically trained types of the beginning years. Hundreds of millions of untrained users, including many children, are now involved with PCs. Also, the Internet, not the desktop application, is the main focus. Mobility and the Web are prime interests.
Microsoft’s vested interest in the old desktop paradigm and its effective monopoly have delayed the development of systems more appropriate to the new situation. In many ways, Windows is a relic of a previous age.
Apple has been quicker to recognize the need for new platforms and the success of its iPhone is helping to show the way. An article at CNET illustrates this by recounting how a 3-year old quickly learned to use the iPhone:
have proof from an expert that the iPhone interface really is better. Who’s the expert? My 3-year-old son.
Over the years, I’ve seen countless newbies struggle to use the latest gadget, computer, or software. I like new technology, but it’s been work hauling myself up learning curves.
But I’m convinced that after years stuck with only modest tweaks to the WIMP interface–windows, icons, menus, pointing device–real change is upon us. That’s chiefly because the pointing devices now can be your own fingers.
Within moments of his first crack at an iPhone, my son, Levi, had figured out how to flip from one photo to another by flicking his finger across the screen. He understood with no coaching how to steer the simulated steel ball around the holes in the Labyrinth game by tilting the phone.
Another article that says the iPhone is superior to a desktop for certain tasks is at PC World. I am not trying to tout the iPhone (I don’t have one) but trying to point out how a different platform may be better than a desktop for today’s tasks.
Microsoft has begun to slowly recognize the need for new approaches. It is also developing touch as an interface and is moving to Web-based applications. Windows 7 looks to have a reduced footprint compared to the bloated Vista but I maintain that Windows is more suited to businesses than to the consumer. It remains too complex for the needs of the average PC user. The ideal consumer operating system is not yet here; Apple and Google are both working on it but the Windows hegemony is a formidable obstacle.
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