From: galt@dsd.es.com (Greg Alt - Perp)
Subject: Re: Computerized Reality: Better than VR
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 91 16:57:49 GMT
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp., Salt Lake City, UT



In article <1991Jul17.230416.16895@cpsc.ucalgary.ca>, sharp@cpsc.ucalgary.ca 
(Maurice Sharp) writes:

> I do not see the utility of a VR that is so close to reality that for
> all practicle purposes it is one. That is, why should I bother using
> compute time to jot down notes on a virtual piece of paper when I
> could jot them down on the real thing ? Will I be able to find that
> little bit of information any easier ? Perhaps, perhaps not. If my
> perception and interaction with the VR is what controls how I find the
> information, I will still have to dig through all those piles of
> virtual paper to find that one note. If I do not think about new ways
> of dealing with information, I do not gain anything from VR.

There are many reasons why jotting down info on virtual paper would be
better than real paper.  Imagine having a spelling/grammar checker built
into your notepad.  Imagine a keyword search through virtual notes...
e.g. You wrote something down about a meeting, so you type (on a virtual
keyboard) "find 'meeting'", and suddenly the filing cabinet opens, and a 
stack of papers flies right into your hand, and they are all nicely 
typed.  You then look through the papers and find one that mentions it 
will be a meeting with a certain group.  You then type "list conferences"
and you see several boxes floating in space, each one has a meeting in 
progress inside of it.  You pick up the box with the meeting you want,
and suddenly you are in the virtual meeting.  All without leaving your 
desk (and only a few keystrokes).  
 
All of these ideas are just simple enhancements to a system that is 
modeled after real reality.

				*     *     *

On a different topic, whatever happened to the PowerGlove mailing list?
I tried to join it a while ago, and it didn't work...  Is it working now?
Any discussions going on?

        Greg


[MODEERATOR'S NOTE:  Thanks to all, and especially those witty guys at
Xerox Parc and Europarc, for this stimulating conversation.  I'm tempted
to crosspost to comp.graphics.visualization, but they will have missed
the intro.  I'll message over there.

[As to the mailing list, that was an endeavor by individual participants.
I haven't heard about the results. -- Bob Jacobson]