Thoughts on Ubiquity

Ubiquity is a natural-language command line interface for the web, allowing the user to create context sensitive mash-up functionalities to existing web apps. The video above is an excellent demo for this very exciting new project from mozilla labs.

For quite some time I’ve been enthusastic about the resurgence of command-driven interfaces for computing apps. While point-and-click visual interfaces are fabulous–indeed, invaluable–for graphics-intensive applications like Photoshop or a 3D CAD environment, they are much less useful for simple day to day productivity applications like file management, email, and word processing. In fact, I espouse that the overuse of the mouse in the productivity applications in the last five to ten years is the main reason for the increases in repetitive stress injuries in the workplace, not to mention the productivity losses incurred by slower (albeit easier to remember) point and click operations in lieu of keystrokes.

Some people have accused me of being backward-thinking in my desire for a more keyboard-centric computing experience, and maybe they’re right. But the reality is that sometimes old methods, while strange, can in fact be better than the trends of the modern day.

Take SMS messaging for instance. It’s the latest-and-greatest form of instant text communication between mobile devices, and yet it’s slower than morse code. How can this be? As technology has advanced, it has favored ubiquity and multi-functionality over excellence and specificity of purpose. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The fact is that SMS is easier to use and understand for a beginner than morse code, so it has become a popular means of communication very quickly, despite the fact that it’s slow, difficult for arthritic fingers, and forces you to spend more and more time hunched over your ever-smaller phone with each passing year. Were it not for the steep learning curve, morse code might still be in daily use by consumers today.

Many serious computer programmers still prefer the command line text editor Vi over much fancier GUI-based systems. While there is a very steep learning curve for Vi, its power, flexibility, and ergonomics–yes, ergonomics!!–are unmatched. Like learning morse code, learning Vi is slow and tedious. But also like morse, it’s much faster and easier than even the most modern GUI once you go to the trouble of learning it.

I believe that the future of interfaces will itself be a “mash-up.” It will include all of the benefits of both the ever-powerful command line, and the ease of use associated with the GUI. The search-based technologies incorporated into Windows Vista and Mac OS X are a perfect example of the beginnings of this change, but I believe they are indeed just the humble beginnings. I hope that someday I can drive my Mac or PC with all of the power, confidence, and stability of the command line, coupled with the ease of use provided by a GUI.

With any luck, Ubiquity will be a step in the right direction!