Applications
of Spatio-Temporal Perspective in Cognitive Engineering, and HCI
If
transportation technology had kept the same pace as computers...
A
well-known saying on the state of affairs in computerdom is based on a
comparison between computers and cars, and it goes about like this:
"If
transportation technology had kept the same pace as computers, a Rolls Royce
would cost about one Dollar and would go about thousand miles per gallon of
fuel."
But
this is an euphemism or simply a make-believe. A more correct statement would be:
"If
transportation technology had run the same course as computers, we would all be
using battle cruisers or armored transports and tanks, for driving to work, to
the supermarket, or to the disco."
Closer
scrutiny of the design principles of current computer systems yields a classic
case of obliteration of the mobility factor in the basic
"mobility-security-firepower" triangle of the military that was presented
above. The classic design aim of current systems is
Firepower:
"to get a bigger bang for the buck", indicating the featuritis that is the
current rage of the industry. The issue of
Security
is mainly centered around protecting the interests of the SW vendor's
copyrights. The dominant Industry-Political
Security
Factor is: "Don't Sell Winchesters to Indians". It doesn't increase the profits
of the SW if the Users become too powerful or too productive.
With
present system failure levels of the Win-XX standard,
Security
for
the User
seems to be as low as any time.
