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Has anyone thought about using this new VR tech outside games? Maybe games will perfect the tech but there is so much potential outside it. For example the OS

Has anyone thought about using this new VR tech outside games? Maybe games will perfect the tech but there is so much potential outside it. For example the OS desktop metaphors could finally be taken to the next level. Files, recycle bins, folders these were mapped concepts in the 80s to try to transfer the office to a 2D computer screen. But now we can simulate a true desktop. Imagine you enter a room, a nice wooden desk in front of you. On the desk are documents that could be web pages videos word docs anything. You touch it and a floating screen appears to display contents. To your right is an infinite capacity filing cabinet. A trash bin under the desk. Its like the real world but without the limits of the real world. Another interesting effect is memory. I remember reading somewhere that in ancient times they would memorize lots of data by imagining walking through a house. As you walk you would place relate objects like a closet to the item you want to remember. In this way you memorize the data and its order. This is where the phrase "in the first place...and the second place..." came from. And its something I've noticed in real life. My desk looks like a mess except to me. There's a order to it I understand and I can find things. A similar thing happens with the mess of icons on my desktop. I can often find something because I know I put it in some folder on some place on the desktop. But in both the real desktop and my windows desktop I sometimes need help finding things and use the search tool. The VR desktop can be the best of both worlds. It allows that natural chaotic organization I do with my real world desktop. But a floating search box can appear anytime to help me.

d4nt 13y ago
I think that since adopting the 2D desktop metaphor, we've all started working with way too much data for it to be reasonably represented as a 3D world. The trend in OS design recently seems to be away from representing physical objects and more towards * dashboards (Windows 8 start screen and Mac OS dashboard) * lists (browser tabs, Windows taskbar jump lists) * search I think we're evolving towards a common visual language for representing information, and the concept of a physical piece of paper or a table on which to store it is going to become a distant memory.
MisterBastahrd 13y ago
I'd be happy to have one screen hooked up to the computer for display purposes and my real display to be an oculus-type VR device if they can get the resolution high enough. Just being able to develop software without being limited to the number of monitors or their dimensions would be a godsend. I'd get one for work and for home. Even better if they can eventually make it wireless so that I can use the one at home for work when I need it, and to watch movies when I don't. Being a sports fan, the ability to watch games without having parts of the screen obscured by scores and ticker stats would also be a plus.
babby 13y ago
>I remember reading somewhere that in ancient times they would memorize lots of data by imagining walking through a house. Sherlock makes use of this as well :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci It actually seems quite legit. I'm tempted to attempt it. I wonder if I could imagine my code/project in this way. To visualize each file, each function, each block as physical objects in a mind palace.
- radicality 13y ago
  If you are interested, 'Moonwalking with Einstein' is all about memorization contests and it talks about the method of loci.
  - babby 13y ago
    Thanks!
- cs02rm0 13y ago
  I hope it's legit, I was taught this method in school, at around 13 years old (now 31). I don't use it very often, but when I do I picture the same house I lived in at the time. I wouldn't necessarily say I can remember lots of data with it, but maybe the order of 20-50 items doesn't take too long.
adventured 13y ago
Every time I consider the VR / 3D desktop, the big problem I run into is: what productivity, efficiency or ease-of-use gain is there? The only benefit I see is just a gee-whiz factor. Why would I want to have to reach over and open a virtual filing cabinet? I can click a 2D folder easier and faster, and view the content faster in a line list. Reproducing archaic physical storage and work systems into a 3D space is going backwards, that includes a fake wooden desk and wastebin under it. It's not so much the headgear presentation I view as an issue, but rather the theory of the '3D' desktop. My prediction is that over the next 20 years, companies will attempt over and over again to push consumers into it, and it'll fail every time because there is no real value gain. What will happen instead is 2D desktop interfaces will become multiplied and easier to use several of in a faux 3D space that is easy to use for your average person (by strictly limiting 3D spatial skill requirements or motion). Something much more akin to flipping the multi-home pages on Android.
mike-cardwell 13y ago
Initial driving lessons, pilot training, Movies where you're sat inside the scenery. Virtual conferences, meetings, lectures, school lessons. Virtual strip clubs. Virtual weddings. The list is almost endless. If something can be done in VR, somebody will program it. It's gonna be so massive and so addictive, I predict within ten years there'll be news stories about people dying in VR from malnutrition or heart failure and clinics specialising in VR addicition.
- hershel 13y ago
  Plus another host of side effects like:cybersickness, dissociation(a serious mental disease) and lower sense of presence in objective reality, unstable gait. http://www.quora.com/Oculus-Rift/Virtual-Reality-Oculus-Rift-side-effects-of-extended-use http://www.quora.com/Oculus-Rift/Virtual-Reality-Oculus-Rift...
  - glitchdout 13y ago
    Just like in Inception where it's mentioned how some people have become addicted to the dream world. I can definitely see this happening.
- higherpurpose 13y ago
  Oculus Rift driving lessons with support for those wheels would be amazing.
- kybernetikos 13y ago
  Some of the most addictive games you can play today are some of the least realistic. I don't expect VR games to be any more addictive than non-VR games. Here's a news story from more than 6 years ago talking about South Korea: > Last year alone, at least seven people died from deep vein thrombosis, heart failure, or exhaustion while playing online games.... > The Information & Communication Ministry began carrying out an annual survey of game addiction in 2002, and has set up counseling centers in eight cities to help addicts. Game companies such as Seoul-based NCsoft Corp. also spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year each to help finance some 40 private counseling centers. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-09-10/online-gaming-koreas-gotta-have-it http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-09-10/online-gaming...
AJ007 13y ago
There are some projects worth keeping an eye on -- ibex VR desktop - https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=423 https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4... VR Launchpad - https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4719 https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4... The thing to consider is the field of view and just how huge what you are looking at is while wearing the Oculus. The best example is the Minecraft block. Imagine each one as a giant box which you would lift up using both arms. The second thing we miss everywhere else is depth perception. Certain tasks, like building objects is greatly helped by having depth perception. In those terms, your perception in the Oculus mirrors the real world more so than a flat, 2D screen or book. I think we will see people who put this thing on when they wake up, and take it off when they go to sleep. At some point perhaps not even then.
heurist 13y ago
I'm looking forward to being able to work on a tropical beach while still being in the office.
EliRivers 13y ago
Its like the real world but without the limits of the real world. Except that you have lovingly recreated those limits by replicating an archaic paper-based office. The desktop metaphor was a horrible, crippling kludge to avoid explaining to people how their computer manages data. We can do so much better.

d4nt 13y ago

I think that since adopting the 2D desktop metaphor, we've all started working with way too much data for it to be reasonably represented as a 3D world. The trend in OS design recently seems to be away from representing physical objects and more towards * dashboards (Windows 8 start screen and Mac OS dashboard) * lists (browser tabs, Windows taskbar jump lists) * search I think we're evolving towards a common visual language for representing information, and the concept of a physical piece of paper or a table on which to store it is going to become a distant memory.

MisterBastahrd 13y ago

I'd be happy to have one screen hooked up to the computer for display purposes and my real display to be an oculus-type VR device if they can get the resolution high enough. Just being able to develop software without being limited to the number of monitors or their dimensions would be a godsend. I'd get one for work and for home. Even better if they can eventually make it wireless so that I can use the one at home for work when I need it, and to watch movies when I don't. Being a sports fan, the ability to watch games without having parts of the screen obscured by scores and ticker stats would also be a plus.

babby 13y ago

>I remember reading somewhere that in ancient times they would memorize lots of data by imagining walking through a house. Sherlock makes use of this as well :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci It actually seems quite legit. I'm tempted to attempt it. I wonder if I could imagine my code/project in this way. To visualize each file, each function, each block as physical objects in a mind palace.

radicality 13y ago
If you are interested, 'Moonwalking with Einstein' is all about memorization contests and it talks about the method of loci.
- babby 13y ago
  Thanks!
cs02rm0 13y ago
I hope it's legit, I was taught this method in school, at around 13 years old (now 31). I don't use it very often, but when I do I picture the same house I lived in at the time. I wouldn't necessarily say I can remember lots of data with it, but maybe the order of 20-50 items doesn't take too long.

adventured 13y ago

Every time I consider the VR / 3D desktop, the big problem I run into is: what productivity, efficiency or ease-of-use gain is there? The only benefit I see is just a gee-whiz factor. Why would I want to have to reach over and open a virtual filing cabinet? I can click a 2D folder easier and faster, and view the content faster in a line list. Reproducing archaic physical storage and work systems into a 3D space is going backwards, that includes a fake wooden desk and wastebin under it. It's not so much the headgear presentation I view as an issue, but rather the theory of the '3D' desktop. My prediction is that over the next 20 years, companies will attempt over and over again to push consumers into it, and it'll fail every time because there is no real value gain. What will happen instead is 2D desktop interfaces will become multiplied and easier to use several of in a faux 3D space that is easy to use for your average person (by strictly limiting 3D spatial skill requirements or motion). Something much more akin to flipping the multi-home pages on Android.

mike-cardwell 13y ago

Initial driving lessons, pilot training, Movies where you're sat inside the scenery. Virtual conferences, meetings, lectures, school lessons. Virtual strip clubs. Virtual weddings. The list is almost endless. If something can be done in VR, somebody will program it. It's gonna be so massive and so addictive, I predict within ten years there'll be news stories about people dying in VR from malnutrition or heart failure and clinics specialising in VR addicition.

hershel 13y ago
Plus another host of side effects like:cybersickness, dissociation(a serious mental disease) and lower sense of presence in objective reality, unstable gait. http://www.quora.com/Oculus-Rift/Virtual-Reality-Oculus-Rift-side-effects-of-extended-use http://www.quora.com/Oculus-Rift/Virtual-Reality-Oculus-Rift...
- glitchdout 13y ago
  Just like in Inception where it's mentioned how some people have become addicted to the dream world. I can definitely see this happening.
higherpurpose 13y ago
Oculus Rift driving lessons with support for those wheels would be amazing.
kybernetikos 13y ago
Some of the most addictive games you can play today are some of the least realistic. I don't expect VR games to be any more addictive than non-VR games. Here's a news story from more than 6 years ago talking about South Korea: > Last year alone, at least seven people died from deep vein thrombosis, heart failure, or exhaustion while playing online games.... > The Information & Communication Ministry began carrying out an annual survey of game addiction in 2002, and has set up counseling centers in eight cities to help addicts. Game companies such as Seoul-based NCsoft Corp. also spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year each to help finance some 40 private counseling centers. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-09-10/online-gaming-koreas-gotta-have-it http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-09-10/online-gaming...

AJ007 13y ago

There are some projects worth keeping an eye on -- ibex VR desktop - https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=423 https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4... VR Launchpad - https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4719 https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4... The thing to consider is the field of view and just how huge what you are looking at is while wearing the Oculus. The best example is the Minecraft block. Imagine each one as a giant box which you would lift up using both arms. The second thing we miss everywhere else is depth perception. Certain tasks, like building objects is greatly helped by having depth perception. In those terms, your perception in the Oculus mirrors the real world more so than a flat, 2D screen or book. I think we will see people who put this thing on when they wake up, and take it off when they go to sleep. At some point perhaps not even then.

heurist 13y ago

I'm looking forward to being able to work on a tropical beach while still being in the office.

EliRivers 13y ago

Its like the real world but without the limits of the real world. Except that you have lovingly recreated those limits by replicating an archaic paper-based office. The desktop metaphor was a horrible, crippling kludge to avoid explaining to people how their computer manages data. We can do so much better.