Virtual Reality (VR) maps allow information
to be simultaneously browsed by teams of collaborators,
sometimes represented as avatars in a fully immersive
environment. In many applications, the user is expected to fly
amongst the data items in virtual landscapes. With the advent
of sophisticated GUI's (Graphic UserInterfaces) and VRML
(Virtual Reality Markup Language) - these maps may well show
us the way to a more colourful and user-friendly future.
The Universal Intuitive Interface
By: Sam Vaknin
The history of technology is the history of interfaces - their
successes and failures. The GUI (the Graphic User Interface) -
which replaced cumbersome and unwieldy text-based interfaces
(DOS) - became an integral part of the astounding success of
the PC.
Yet, all computer interfaces hitherto share the same growth-
stunting problems. They are:
(a) Non-transparency - the workings of the hardware and
software (the "plumbing") show through
(b) Non-ubiquity - the interface is connected to a specific
machine and, thus, is non-transportable
(c) Lack of friendliness (i.
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