10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.
Over the many years as a gamer and as a designer I have seen a gamut of failed computer input devices that promised ergonomic solutions that would improve efficiency and allow users to operate spatially for that futuristic experience that we all have been dreaming of for so long. All of these input devices have tried to accommodate the operating systems of the present, with little intention of marrying an elegant software and hardware solution. From their inception, their design process was flawed.
We have also seen shells applied to existing operating systems, such as LiteStep, which allowed for the Linux-head approach to be applied to a Windows environment. But still, we were using the existing input devices, and we faced another flawed design process.
I am totally excited to see the approach that R. Clayton Miller has taken in the development of his 10/GUI project. In his current video snippet he sheds a bit of light on some basic operating system essentials. My opinion is that operating systems must fully and almost submissively accommodate the needs of gaming usability. There are so many reasons for this stance, it would require an entire book be written on the subject….maybe later. So my question when I see new setups is ‘How will this work for games?’
At a first glance 10/GUI seems like it would limit the ability for quick track-ability, resilience with regards to repetitive motion, and its ability to customize in-game bindings easily. I am hoping that Miller is looking towards solving or answering these initial speculations, because what good is and OS without games? However, I am totally excited to see this solution; it just needs to be fully realized.
