Microsoft doesn’t believe hands are the only vehicle for driving computers. Feet are equally valid for scrolling and cataloging e-mail and photos, among other tasks, according to researchers working in Microsoft’s main Redmond research lab. In fact, for those for whom hands are less of an option, as a result of disabilities or injuries, feet might be the optimal solution. Microsoft Research’s StepUI, or Step User Interface, is custom-made for these individuals.
With StepUI, users can use an off-the-shelf dance pad to perform simple e-mail commands, such as scroll, open, close, delete, flag and move messages into folders.
Gnome needs this so we can all play Dance Dance Evolution.
http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/
Modded up one point just for the mere humor I found in that post.
Note to self: Learn to use the reply button when responding to someone else’s post.
I can see some health benefits to this, burning calories and staying motivated and all, but what about the disadvantages? Will this cause people to have knee and joint problems much like those users having it in their arms and wrists? I’d hate to see the effects of carpal tunnel transfered from the arm to the leg.
I wouldn’t worry about it. No one will ever use this for anything. If it makes it out of the lab (which I doubt) it’ll be as an accessory for the XBox360, not for emailing grandma.
One-handed typing could be a thing of the past.
Didn’t you mean one handed internet surfing? 😉
hehehe i tought the same joke…
seriously, i know some people with disabilities using computers. apart being nothing new or spactuacular, it’s not what most people with body disabilities could easily use… first of all because it they’re on a wheel chair they have foot motion but not leg motion.
for single handed / no hands people having a pointing device (why not, a feet trackball..
+ vocal control / virtual keyboard seems me a more practical thing for normal use of a pc.
having an handicap-compliant simplified command set for email clients and web browsers (gestures + pointing device works) is a nice idea tough.
Ok, so the Mac mini was a let down, as was the iPod Hi-Fi, but all Microsoft shows us in their event is a DDR email device? That is the dumbest idea ever.
Yes, now it will be more easy to dance the Balmer monkey dance 🙂
http://www.ntk.net/ballmer/mirrors.html
When using windows, I always use my foot to … kick my PC when I see a BSOD.
What a “breakthrough” from MS Research. Here’s an exerpt from an interview with Doug Engelbart (inventor of the mouse) :
“Q:The paper you and Bill English published in early 1967 discussing this test also referred to a “knee-control” device that appeared promising…
A:That device was based on my observation that the human foot was a pretty sensitive controller of the gas pedal in cars. With a little work, we discovered that the knee offered even better control at slight movements in all directions. In tests, it outperformed the mouse by a small margin.”
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/features/mouse/mouse.html
“Q:The paper you and Bill English published in early 1967 discussing this test also referred to a “knee-control” device that appeared promising…
Neat, HCI by Singer.
…but I’m sitting here with my legs crossed.
LoL.