That Star Trek IV scene was a reminder that a computer mouse isn’t as universally intuitive of a device as it might seem.
(And on a tangentially-related note—I’ve been driving a Ford Mustang convertible this weekend and the fact that some screens are touch screens and some are not has been a bit of a source for confusion to me. I think I don’t have the same issue with my Prius because there the steering-wheel cursor keys control a screen that’s on a different plane from the main dashboard. Also, I really miss my radar cruise control.)
I've seen this behavior in people that have seen other people use mouses for over a decade before, especially my Mom. It's my personal universal sign to immediately stop teaching that person anything. If you get shown a mouse move across a table like a pug, get explained that moving it up and down, left and right is a relative motion and you pick it up and wave it in the air you are just signaling that you do not want to learn.
My mom and her friends pestered me for years as a teen to show them how computers work and how to use them. When I tried to teach them the basics they were dismissive as if the computer had to conform to their way of thinking how the interaction should work. I learned to not engage with those people at all. Funnily enough, a decade later after they actually wanted to learn it they figured it out themselves.
Why would you buy a car that didn't have that, or better technology?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkqiDu1BQXY
We're living in the 80s version of the future. We have Star Trek today.
1. https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/macwhisper (dictation + transcription)
2. https://carelesswhisper.app (does dictation only, and does it really well; cheapest)
3. https://superwhisper.com (both local and hosted models + lots of bells and whistles, but much higher pricing)
It’s going to be extremely simple, and hopefully easy enough to use. MIT licensed, free
19 Dollar and Open-Source.
Hopefully VoiceInk gets there. It is a neat project and really well done for a first time dev but rough around the edges. Careless is ~20$ and if you just need dictation is the best option.
Here's the scene for those who are unaware: https://youtu.be/90eg_erObDo?si=E0ZbU_k-H7ANLqcZ&t=179
But, in all seriousness, I'm impressed that they were able to do this non-destructively.
I don’t know if you consider a single button a questionable decision, but the ADB II mouse was as close to perfect as the technology was able to support when it was released.
> Convenient USB-C charging via a port on the bottom
Well-played..
Sure, I can add to the program I have currently to make it handle "any" task, but, with how we currently operate computers, and view content, there is not a way to avoid touching the keyboard and mouse entirely. Tbh im not even sure what i could propose to improve the gui for controlling the system star trek style.
