[IxDA Discuss] more new desktop IxD

[Gil Barros]

I saw some children playing with the OLPC for a little while and then talked to
them about it. I also got to play a little with it myself ;-)

The general impression is very good, but it's still a beta version and there are
a lot of implementation issues that need to be solved. For example, the touchpad
was too sensitive, which made it very hard to control the pointer (kids were
using a USB mouse). Also, the screen is 200 DPI, which made the pointer (Linux
default) very small and sometimes hard to find on the screen. Response time was
an issue also.


The kids I talked to had some familiarity with Windows computers, and at first
thought the UI was strange, but got used to it _very_ fast and some of them even
said that the OLPC UI was easier than "the other" computer. The activities were
very simple, though, most of the time kids were looking things on the web and
showing it to each other.


The Sugar UI seems very interesting, I'm glad that the Desktop approach was left
behind and I see a great effort in trying to build a new paradigm that's better
suited for the OLPC purpose (kids doing things together). Here are the UI
Guidelines:
<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines>

I think the main challenge is how to make it work in combination with the
Desktop. All the icons and widgets are very nice and consistent up until you
open an contextual menu or an Open dialog box, which looks very Motif-like.


Still, I'm very positive about it, specially because it's a "second" UI that
kids will work on. It gives another perspective when you know that things don't
have to be like the Desktop, it allows comparison. It's so common to see
"computer classes" here in Brazil being focused on just teaching kids how to use
Windows, Word and Excel as black boxes. Something that Nielsen just mentioned in
his alerbox, by the way.
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/computer-skills.html>


And whether the OLPC will "work" or not, well, that's a whole other story. The
machine plays a big part, but as in any other big project it's just one of the
factors. How will teachers be prepared? Distribution, robbery, control, those
issues are still open. And I leave those debates for other lists.


Gil.


David Malouf escreveu (01.03.07 17:58):
> What do people think of the new interface on the $100 laptop?
> 
> Business Week's article has a slideshow and other interesting commentary.
> http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2007/id20070301_063165.htm
> 
> Not your ordinary desktop.
> 
> Amazing internationalization issues are covered with this IxD setup.
> 
> -- dave
>