Are you ready for 3D computers? Catalyst Computer wants to know.
Last month, Microsoft got approval for a patent on a three-dimensional user interface. According to its new patent is thinking more in terms of three-dimensional environment than just 3D icons. Microsoft’s multi-dimensional workspace extends much deeper behind the computer screen, creating a virtual office the user can “walk” through, and separating different tasks into “rooms” among which the user can switch.
When the first user interfaces were being developed, designers used the metaphor of a virtual desktop – that’s why we have familiar computer terms such as files, folders, desktops and so on. Microsoft’s proposed 3D UI appears to run with that metaphor, creating what really seems to be a virtual office.
In fact, Microsoft’s patent diagrams visualize the 3D space as if the user were walking through it. Some of the figures show a virtual hand that pops up in the foreground, sometimes holding a palette with different icons and sometimes holding a computer menu.
“The user may move through the task gallery using a pointing devices to indicated the direction and duration of each movement,” the patent explains. “To facilitate such movement, the task gallery is divided into rooms with one or more user positions within each room.”
Microsoft’s patent goes into great detail describing not only the user’s movement through 3D space, but how the user can move files, folders, windows and menus. It’s an interesting read if you’ve got some time on your hands.