Give Me Some Sugar
The screen you are looking at is the actual OS called Sugar which runs on the "$100.00 Laptop" you've most likely heard about. The Laptop is aimed at bringing personal computing and Internet connectivity to impoverished nations. It can establish a " special Wi-Fi network" by connecting to other computers. The user can interact with friends on this network and even get invitations to participate in their activities.
Check out how the OS is described via BusinessWeek:
"Ever since the first Apple Macintosh computer was launched in 1984, the user interfaces of personal computers have been designed essentially the same way—with the office desktop as the visual metaphor. Instead, Sugar begins with an “XO Man” icon representing the individual at the center of the screen. The user starts “activities” such as e-mail or photo editing by clicking on icons positioned on the frame around the display."
And here is a picture of the device:
I'm really interested in seeing how this ends up working. The interface itself is so different from what we've gotten used to through Apple and Microsoft. It's almost totally iconic/visual and instead of adding detail and depth, it removes it. The user navigates through a series of clicks, zooming in and out.
My question is—will this ultra simplification impact our own high end/high tech devices? I wish I could play around with one of these and see for myself.
I'd love it if there was some virtual GUI of this OS that we could all play with. Who knows? We might even learn something new. :)
I'm going to poke around and let you know what I find.
Posted by: Cam Beck | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 03:52 PM
Alright. That was quick.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Virtualized_Sugar
I'm going to take a crack at it.
Posted by: Cam Beck | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 03:54 PM
Nice find Cam! I've got a Mac but I'm going to russle up the nearest geek on a PC and check this out.
Posted by: DA | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 04:21 PM
I'd have thought the multinationals would have been all over this very exciting product. Limitless opportunities.
Posted by: Charles Edward Frith | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 06:08 PM
That X-guy icon in the middle of the screen makes your "Bathroom People" look downright elegant.
Posted by: Roger von Oech | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 06:21 PM
Interfaces intrigue the heck out of me (might have something to do with all the instructional and interface design I've done over the years :).
I always get a kick out of how different people envision interaction. It's cool to see a different slant on something we take for granted like OS interfaces.
It's almost like one of those fake desktops you see in movies.
Posted by: Tony D. Clark | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 07:38 PM
For those of you passionate about this sort of inquiry, I recommend "Designing Interactions" by Bill Moggridge [http://www.designinginteractions.com ]. I am reading it now and it's fascinating to learn how the first decisions on user interface were made: how the mouse would work, what the 'editor' capability would be.
At first blush, this looks like our computers would be had one of the other options become popular from Xerox research in the '70s. It's a snapshot from the POV of a group of people, very much like we have in some of our conversations today.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | Friday, March 02, 2007 at 07:50 AM
It was slow and clunky for me, but that might just be the emulator... I got frustrated before I got any results.
Posted by: Cam Beck | Friday, March 02, 2007 at 05:21 PM