TouchNotSoSmart
Dec. 2nd, 2008 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleChristmas arrived a little early with the TouchSmart computer that bio-daddy sent me. Its primary purpose is for managing catering events, but for the moment it has found a home in the guest room where it will do nicely for porn watching Masterpiece Theatre and such.
Yeah, it's a marvel of technology and all that, but there are always little things that make me grouchy. Not surprisingly, HP has created some truly craptastical software to show off the touchscreen feature. I'd heard this was actually OK, but I knew it wouldn't be that way, and of course I was right. Software specific to a particular computer system always stinks. There are a lot of stinky things about it, but one is particularly prominent. It makes nominal use of pseudo-multitouch in resizing some panels that don't need to exist at any size, let alone a larger or smaller size. But of course, there is no design involved in the UI behavior beyond flashy shimmery graphics. In particular, when you resize the unnecessary panels, they jump around in a totally non-physical manner that is wildly confusing and hard on the eyes.
Why is this? I have created a whole barnyard of visualization apps that exhibit 100% physically sensible panel resize behavior, and the difference between correct resizing and this horrible kludge is usually about ten lines of code. But in order to write those ten lines correctly, you have to think a little; you have to know a little math, apply some design principles, and make it work. But if you care about nothing other than satisfying a laundry-list of "features" that are supposed to "delight the consumer", this would never even occur to you. Unfortunately, the design of this sorry thing reeks of neglect shrouded in buzzwords and corporate ass-covering.
The graphics performance also seems appalling given the high end hardware involved, and there are bugs galore, particularly in Windows Media Center. I would very much like to figure out if the VLC media player can somehow be made to work with the remote, since so far every disc I've played is better with that player. Sometimes the difference is between watchable and non-watchable; Baraka shakes horribly with Media Center, but is perfect with VLC.
Compare it to the iPhone, and the difference is obvious. When your cell phone offers a better user experience than a top-end desktop, you know the world has changed.
And what is with the Addams Family packaging design? Weird.
Anyway, it does work, it does play DVDs, and for the first time in my life I can watch them on a monitor where black is good and black. You can touch the touchscreen and it does things; there's hardly any reason to use the mouse unless you are too far to reach. The keyboard, contrary to the reviews, is very pleasant to use. And it took only a short while to eliminate the surprisingly limited selection of shovelware.
I just have to make some sort of case for it so that it looks like a piece of Craftsman furniture, and so that I can move it around without scratching it.
Yeah, it's a marvel of technology and all that, but there are always little things that make me grouchy. Not surprisingly, HP has created some truly craptastical software to show off the touchscreen feature. I'd heard this was actually OK, but I knew it wouldn't be that way, and of course I was right. Software specific to a particular computer system always stinks. There are a lot of stinky things about it, but one is particularly prominent. It makes nominal use of pseudo-multitouch in resizing some panels that don't need to exist at any size, let alone a larger or smaller size. But of course, there is no design involved in the UI behavior beyond flashy shimmery graphics. In particular, when you resize the unnecessary panels, they jump around in a totally non-physical manner that is wildly confusing and hard on the eyes.
Why is this? I have created a whole barnyard of visualization apps that exhibit 100% physically sensible panel resize behavior, and the difference between correct resizing and this horrible kludge is usually about ten lines of code. But in order to write those ten lines correctly, you have to think a little; you have to know a little math, apply some design principles, and make it work. But if you care about nothing other than satisfying a laundry-list of "features" that are supposed to "delight the consumer", this would never even occur to you. Unfortunately, the design of this sorry thing reeks of neglect shrouded in buzzwords and corporate ass-covering.
The graphics performance also seems appalling given the high end hardware involved, and there are bugs galore, particularly in Windows Media Center. I would very much like to figure out if the VLC media player can somehow be made to work with the remote, since so far every disc I've played is better with that player. Sometimes the difference is between watchable and non-watchable; Baraka shakes horribly with Media Center, but is perfect with VLC.
Compare it to the iPhone, and the difference is obvious. When your cell phone offers a better user experience than a top-end desktop, you know the world has changed.
And what is with the Addams Family packaging design? Weird.
Anyway, it does work, it does play DVDs, and for the first time in my life I can watch them on a monitor where black is good and black. You can touch the touchscreen and it does things; there's hardly any reason to use the mouse unless you are too far to reach. The keyboard, contrary to the reviews, is very pleasant to use. And it took only a short while to eliminate the surprisingly limited selection of shovelware.
I just have to make some sort of case for it so that it looks like a piece of Craftsman furniture, and so that I can move it around without scratching it.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-03 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-03 07:32 am (UTC)The iPhone is the biggest industry fuck-you wakeup call I've ever seen.