The OLPC User Interface
The OLPC (One Laptop per Child) computer uses a very different interface from what most people are accustom. The interface is called “Sugar”. Some think it is childish. While it was designed for a computer targeting children, and it uses very simple colors and visuals. This is partly because it is targeting children and partly because the OX - the actual computer hardware - is very basic and low power. However, the interface concepts are not childish at all. Unfortunately, it has not been easy for most - me included - to look past the simple appearance of the Sugar.
A creative designer - Alexandre van de sande from Brazil - has created a video that shows the Sugar UI as it might appear if it were running on a more powerful computer such as a MacBook or other laptop. Alezandre called the concept “aqua Sugar”. The results really convey the power of the Sugar UI. In the video, it is easy to see how the “aqua Sugar” makes managing multiple applications easy and how collaboration is woven into both the user interface and the user’s activity.The power and simplicity it the integration of collaboration into work one does on the computer. In everything we - developed countries - have done with computers, “collaboration” has been “bolted on” rather than made an assumption. In nature, we collaborate nearly constantly. We see what others are doing and engage or avoid as appropriate. But with computers, it is a chore to both recognize what is being done by others *and* to make appropriate actions.There are positive implications of Alexandre’s “aqua Sugar” for groups of people - teams, families, classes, organizations, etc. - where there are the three levels of collaboration: “self”, “group”, “universe”. Most collaboration is at the “group” level but groups ebb and flow from the universe so all three levels are critical. Aqua-Sugar is a bold “jump to the left” to break from the incrementalist interface design. It may never take shape but perhaps it will change / influence the new batch of HCI thinkers
