10/GUI

This week, Apple made big headlines when they launched their new Mighty Mouse. It is the first mouse that I have seen, which uses touch screen-like gestures to swipe through and scroll content. This is a ground-breaking improvement to the mouse, which originally shipped to consumers in 1981 with the Xerox 8010 Star Information System.

However, even Apple’s new mouse does not improve the fact that users cannot click on multiple elements at the same time. Clayton Miller, a Chicago-based designer, sees potential for improvement, and designed the 10/GUI interface, which uses all 10 fingers to interact within an interface. 10/GUI also neatly updates the way one interacts with open windows. The windows paradigm has been around for more than 20 years, and it has not significantly evolved its fundamental structure since its inception. 10 GUI uses a system named Con10uum, which puts all open windows in a linear interface, enabling users to scroll through all of them at the same time.

I applaud Miller’s efforts. Hopefully his concepts serve as food for thought when new operating systems and navigational artifacts are conceptualized. Who knows, maybe even Apple will use similar technology?