Subject: Text vs. graphics vs. ??? From: "Curt A. Monash" <0006058685@mcimail.com> Date: Fri, 7 Jul 95 12:54 EST

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Hang on tight, Ahmed, I feel another crusade coming on ...  

As the head of Oracle Sweden once said to me, if people don't stop comparing
apples to oranges, we'll all go bananas.

Anyhow, to address the text/graphics issue:

1.  A large majority of computer users prefer Windows/Mac-like graphical
interfaces to text/command-line interfaces.  The main groups of apparent
exceptions are:

a.  Long-time computer jocks who grew up with command-line interfaces.
b.  People who use such simple menu-driven programs that graphics don't add
value.
c.  People with slow computers that don't execute graphics very
conveniently.

Many Internet old-timers are in Group A, and over 14.4 or slower modems,
almost everybody is in Group C.  

That said, I'm not aware of other reasons for text to "win" over graphics.  
So I think it is clear that graphical user interfaces will predominate, soon
(in fact, they do already, by most measures, speed concerns
notwithstanding).  

But, THAT said, low-graphics may well be the way to go for a couple of
years, for bandwidth reasons.

2.  Some types of content are inherently numerical, and some types of users
(business, computer jocks) are at least somewhat numerate.  Business
graphics and similar aids are a big help in navigating numbers.  "Data
mining" will apply to Internet data as well as to inhouse corporate data.  I
haven't thought through the precise technical ramifications, yet, but I
don't think people will browse a lot of rows and columns of Commerce
Department data for too much longer.

3.  Text and still images are, for most purposes, faster to consume than
video and sound.  Why?  Because they're easier to "skim".  Even when video
on PCs is robust enough for "fast forward" functionality, this will be true.
So the undeniable desire for video may be restricted more to entertainment
applications for quite some time (although more and more business exceptions
will probably emerge).

4. That said, there are two special circumstances w.r.t. sound.  First of
all, many of us spend over an hour a day in circumstances where our ears are
free but our eyes are not (mainly, driving).  So downloading sound for later
playback could work well [I'd be interested in a review of the current and
soon expected technology].  Second, voice control of computers is coming, so
presumably they will be talking back, as well.


Anybody want to comment on all this, or am I looking too far ahead?

Curt Monash
President, Monash Information Services

If I have seen further than others, it is because I have listened to
dreamers talking in their sleep.


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