Comments on: PC or people--who's the boss?

Newly hired Microsoft researcher Bill Buxton sees big changes coming in how you and your computer interact.

About time!

This is really great, even though it's ten or twenty years late.

I really hope, for the sake of the User, this guy makes a difference at all levels. That last paragraph says it all.

[Blito]

Tired of the cameraphone?

Also this could be a better thing for saftety as well like not even knowing if you have a camera on your device and it's connected somewhere. Also I think MS should take more of a design consulting role as well as they were always more behind-the- scenes. When they pushed IBM aside and came out with Windows they got beat up too much on the front lines. For example Windows being too all-in- one. So this is a step in the right direction I think.

[Charleston Charge]

Positive Changes

I think MS has been hiring some very good and talented people lately who will be making a positive change and impact for the company. Hopefully in the near future we will be seeing some good things as a result of these individuals.

[RicktheBrick]

What computers should know

There is no reason why computers should not know almost everything of importance. A computer in a automobile should know where it is located. It should know everything about that location. That is the speed limit and thus not allow the automobile to break that limit. It should also know if there is a reason to stop such as a stop sign or traffic light and also respond to that condition if the driver refuses to acknowledge it. Every automobile should be part of a wi-fi network as it should report it speed, location and direction of travel to all nearby automobiles. Corrective action should be started if the computers detects a collision. In the home the computer should also know everything. There should be a microphone and speakers in every room. It should be able to recognize by sound everything that causes flow(electricity, water, and gas) so it can monitor all of them. It should be able to initiate corrective action when it can not explain any flow. It should also be able to interact with humans. It should know when one is present and if that person needs help in any fashion. Most of which could be done with a simple yes or no question. Such as are you fine?, are you leaving?, will you be away for more than an hour?

[Jonthin]

Microsoft. Do something really well???

Fat chance... Microsoft products that I have known are designed,
then and now, to be over-engineered; incredibly complex and
inefficient.

They need to start from the ground-up and do things SIMPLY. Make
the product efficient, easy to use and understand. Why can't
Microsoft learn from Apple? They have been making software for
Apple for years but they seem so stupid that they miss the point all
the time. This guy will have his work cut out for sure.

[LordKalthorn]

Apple?

Haha. You realise of course that the only reason Apple got even the faintest chance to work from the ground up on OS X is because OS 9 was so completely dreadful that breaking any form of backward compatibility and starting from scratch was the only way to gain customers? Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Media Player, Dynamics, everything really, work. They work perfectly fine; they may be complex and compared to Apple programs that get the chance to know precisely the system they're working with they are probably inefficient but they work on more PCs than there have ever been or ever will be Apples. Even if they started from scratch right now we both know they wouldn't be finished for ten, twelve years. The reason it is complex and inefficient because of that is that to code for such a ridiculously huge customer base you need that or the entire thing would fall through. You just plain cannot code for a Billion people Simply.