Microsoft goes DDR with "Step User Interface"

Aw yeah, we just knew all that "Windows Presentation Foundation" jargon Microsoft has been feeding us about Vista would pay off sooner or later. Looks like Microsoft is toying with a "Step User Interface," to be demoed at their TechFest today, which is basically Dance Dance Revolution meets Windows Explorer. Just dance a little jig to run through those vacation photos or maybe some cha cha to skim through a bit of spam in search of a truly great stay-at-home business opportunity. Microsoft even claims they're looking into foot mounted accelerometers "so you really could be just sitting at your desk and kicking your e-mail away under the desk." Sign us up for that! Of course, there are no plans at all right now for commercialization of the tech, but stranger things have happened.

[WDC @ Mar 1st 2006 10:54AM]

If you really do read this site, and maybe just maybe you read the first few comments people put up Mr. Gates. Then I want you to do me a favour. Slap yourself. Nice and hard...

[jef @ Mar 1st 2006 11:00AM]

and you thought things couldn't get any more irrelevant than the toys that steve jobs introduced yesterday..

[Craig @ Mar 1st 2006 11:01AM]

What is with all these stupid ideas the computer industry is coming out with? It's like they have a team of monkeys flinging ideas at the wall until one of them sticks.

[dreampc @ Mar 1st 2006 11:06AM]

I'm guessing Microsoft is predicting the end of opposing digits?

Was this a problem?

[wanax @ Mar 1st 2006 11:16AM]

@WDC

Little harsh don't you think? Innovating means coming up with a bunch of stupid things before coming up with a great idea.

As stupid as this looks at first, I could see this having application to people to use during demos and presentations to free up their hands.

Or handicapped people who don't have arms could use this.

[David T @ Mar 1st 2006 11:26AM]

this sounds strange, but if you think about it, there actually are advantages.

no carpal tunnel syndrome; quick access; possibly more efficient than a mouse for bringing up commonly used applications (no more searching for the print button - just drag your foot left and right). sure it's really wacky, but hey, who would have thought people would navigate their computers with a little red knob before IBM came up with the Thinkpad? or navigate their music collection with a round touchpad, for that matter ;)

[Matt @ Mar 1st 2006 11:32AM]

This would be cool in use with a Keyboard and mouse. We have right click, and hotkey combinations, but this would add a whole lot more options to accessing data quickly. EX: Open the color print properties for your printer, use LEFT FOOT + RIGHT MOUSE + P

Awesome!

[matt @ Mar 1st 2006 11:42AM]

i like the idea, there are already systems that use foot controls successfully - sewing machines, pianos and guitar set-ups come to mind, not to mention midi foot controllers that are already available for computers.

[iTodd @ Mar 1st 2006 11:52AM]

"Was this a problem?"

Obesity epidemic, sedentary lifestyles, fat kids? Nah... just a tiny one.

[Sunil @ Mar 1st 2006 11:54AM]

Would be really nice to play some video games using this interface

[ToadVomit @ Mar 1st 2006 12:05PM]

There was this stomping game from Nolan Bushnell's Sente company back then. Well, it was called Stompin'. Anyway, what the hell are these guys doing? Somebody's got *wayyy* too much money...

[Josh @ Mar 1st 2006 12:06PM]

This is what happens when Microsoft tries to innovate. They should just stick to taking other peoples ideas.

But then, Microsoft is a success story in growing a busines - not in technological innovation. To expect anything else from them is unrealistic.

Funny how Apple's worst can still seem better than Microsoft's best.

[passerby @ Mar 1st 2006 12:06PM]

So who exactly wants to take the time training their feet to to web browsing? For example if you are a right hander would you go out of your way to use a mouse placed on the left side of your keyboard? I don't think so! Plus you can sit and mouse around for HOURS, try doing dance-dance revolution for 8 hours.

[tinytom21 @ Mar 1st 2006 12:11PM]

i agree about the gaming, you could run/sprint/jump with this mat. (im not suggesting running on the spot, but it would add more realism)
looks stupid though and engadget called it a dancemat thats y we cant take it seriously.
if it had a brished chrome finish and didnt have fluorescent colours in it, then i reckon peoples reactions would be different.
it would be like having more keys on your keyboard...and having 2 more arms to use them.
i dont think it will ever take off, but maybe for graphic designers or something who could zoom and move pics with their feet, whilst editing with their hands. (if this is totaly wrong i apologise, as i have NO idea about graphic designers)

[Rocket Scientist @ Mar 1st 2006 12:12PM]

This is the most retarded idea i've ever seen.

[DT @ Mar 1st 2006 12:14PM]

"To restart, right foot CTRL, left foot ALT, and left hand DEL"

OR

"In case of frozen system, place right foot firmly on blue."
Gives new meaning to the term "reBOOT". Wokka wokka!

[Rocket Scientist @ Mar 1st 2006 12:20PM]

Let me continue on that "most retarded" tirade a bit actually.

Did Microsoft really come up with this or is it a hoax? I can't believe anyone is that stupid. There are so many things wrong with this from an interface control standpoint (no pun intended) that it's rediculous.

Hope you like hopping on one foot to keep going left...

Better not put both feet down and stand on it or it might fritz out.

I'm gonna go with my instinct and say this is a hoax. And someome was playing with a DDR pad and a HDPC Because it is just not humanly possibly that Microsoft is this retarded and could actually take this idea seriously.

[JL @ Mar 1st 2006 12:33PM]

#10 - At least Microsoft isn't trying to sell you a $99 leather case for an iPod..

OHHH yeah.. that's right, that's another one of Apple's innovative products..

Oh hell no..

MS/Apple, two sides of the same coin...

[Felkster @ Mar 1st 2006 12:47PM]

Guys, give MS a break. It's a presentation from MS Research, the guys with PhDs who create anything they can think of then decide whether or not it can become a product. This is what research universities do all the time. Much of it will not amount to anything, but you never know until you try. Let's not rant about MS for trying to create *new* ideas...

Remember that Apple makes new products, not new ideas. MS often just makes new products, not new ideas. But MS Research makes new ideas.

[Nathan Waterhouse @ Mar 1st 2006 12:47PM]

Somewhat reminds me of the user interface myself and two other colleagues developed at the interaction design institute Ivrea, Collabolla (also mentioned here in engadget at...http://engadget.com/2004/11/22/collabolla-collaborative-pac-man/)

http://www.collabolla.com/

[JOE @ Mar 1st 2006 12:52PM]

This is sweet! Bunch of these Apple retards are too dumb to appreciate any technological advancement. Sad, sad people...

[JOE @ Mar 1st 2006 12:57PM]

Well looks like apple retards are still hurting after yesterday. That was really funny, when apple rolled out their overpriced trash yesterday. Charging 10 times more for some case is ludicrous.

[soundboy64 @ Mar 1st 2006 12:57PM]

Watching people that are bad at DDR is hard enough, I can only image some overweight person using this thing, trips, breaks their ankle and sues MS for all their worth... Wait, that wouldn't be so bad....

[LaserBeams @ Mar 1st 2006 12:59PM]

I don't think this is such a stupid idea, but anyone with a bit of spare time could hack this together. It's not really innovative.

DDR pad + joystick->keyboard mapper = 8 (or 10) extra keys under your desk...

u/d = pgup/pgdn
l/r = scroll left/right, tab forward and back
ul/ur = navigate forward/back
bl+br = boss button!
start = start button
select = task switcher?

Would be handy for games too, not as much moving your fingers off WASD for less-often-accessed buttons.

[Banzai @ Mar 1st 2006 1:37PM]

Thats the same dance pad I have! Don't think I'd ever use this though.

[StreetStealth @ Mar 1st 2006 1:45PM]

MS Bob 2.0:

Bob Bob Revolution!

[CEC @ Mar 1st 2006 2:03PM]

MS NBC Presents: Dancing With The Geeks

[mike @ Mar 1st 2006 2:14PM]

to anyone talking crap about Apple.. all that stuff will sell, there's about 50 million iPods out there..

ipod hifi is comparable to $1000 systems, hence, will sell..

the mini is interesting because of the ability to stream media from other pcs/macs in the house and it's remote control etc.

do your research

[mike @ Mar 1st 2006 2:18PM]

MS new operating system: The Hokey Pokey.

[D W @ Mar 1st 2006 2:31PM]

Whats so innovative? A DDR mat works the same way a joystick works - you assign buttons just the same way.

All MS did was write a basic UI to take the same joystick inputs... Oh yeah, with an interface like this, it must have taken them all of 5 minutes to throw together...

Red Octane (the main company who makes these mats) must be laughing themselves silly.

[Bobs @ Mar 1st 2006 2:58PM]

Its called the 'jump to conclusions' mat!

[eddie @ Mar 1st 2006 3:40PM]

Honestly, so many people calling this crap, sure it's not really innovative, but like its been said, this could be really helpful for people without arms and such, and since its being made by microsoft you won't have problems configuring it and such

[Hitesh Sawlani (hitkaiser) @ Mar 1st 2006 4:07PM]

Erm, I did this about 2years ago.

USB Dualbox (search on google)
DDR Mat (Logitech)

I even played pro evolution soccer with this
IT's terribly awkward, its good for a few laughs

Then i combined mouse and DDR mat in counterstrike so i could walk around whilst shoot with mouse... it was quite funny..!

[Eugene @ Mar 1st 2006 4:26PM]

I'm getting tired of Apple fanboys...(By the way, I have 2 iPods). They just fail to understand that this (crazy and pointless) idea from Microsoft is infinitely more "fun and new" than a 100$ iPod case from Apple.

[Josh @ Mar 1st 2006 4:33PM]

#18

True, a $99 lether case is an insult. A lack of sales should slap them on the wrist. However they are not trying to repeatedly sell me God-awful beta software as if it were a finished product - for hundreds of dollars a pop. This would be fine if the updates were optional, but as anyone who's owned a wintel box knows, they never are.
I grew up on microsoft machines since the 08086 days. Then I learned to program. Then I got a look at Microsoft's awful API's. Then I was introduced to UNIX and realized that it is NOT normal for a system to be as unstable and inconsistent as windows. That software revisions should generaly make the same hardware perform better - not worse (game-consoles are the most obvious example of this principle in action.)
Then I gave OSX a look and learned that powerful does not mean complicated. It is known that the best solution - even the correct solution - to a problem is almost always the simplest one. This is not limited to a UI design - even in software, or hardware, or mechanical engineering - complexity is almost always bad and best avoided.

Microsoft is a business. Software just happens to be their product - but it is by no means their craft. Business is their craft.

As a company, Apple is certainly not perfect or innocent. They do, however have researchers who tend to forge new territory on the software, hardware, and human-machine interface fronts - and it is often territory that was worth entering. In short, they very often push the state of the art that others end up aspiring to. Microsoft half-heartedly copies them and others, and flops around like a fish out of watter in the meantime. Research is one thing. Flailing aimlesly is quite another. Dead ends happen, but track records are telling. It is hard to credit Microsoft as an R&D house when the majority of their "successes" stand on the shoulders of work done external to them - work that they cobble together into a buggy mess. Their inability to fix their own mess is also telling - and indeed, helps them sell the next "upgrade" since they have most people thinking that this is "normal" for "complex" software.

Their craft is marketing and business. And that's it.


#21

Your grasp of "technological advancement" is clearly second to none.



#29

Sweet reference!



#32

Not that you yourself have done this, but I grow tired of people who "read" posts like mine, and assume I'm an Apple fanboy.

[Eugene @ Mar 1st 2006 4:44PM]

"Funny how Apple's worst can still seem better than Microsoft's best."
I thought so. Until yesterday.

[Danno @ Mar 1st 2006 5:07PM]

hmmm... apple's $99 cowskin fragment?

or MS's dancepad?

i'd go with the dancepad, if only to laugh when all the fatso's try to surf the net.

[E71 @ Mar 1st 2006 5:21PM]

Anyone else think that step-game is the fruitiest game out there (at least for guys)?

[Nat Schaffner @ Mar 2nd 2006 12:59AM]

Interfacing with a DDR pad is inefficient, though entertaining (Halo with a DDR pad is hillarious... As long as you're not the one on the pad). Now, if you could build it into a treadmill or something, and rig that up to play CS, that would be freaking amazing (although not a 'real' holodeck... Need annother 300 years for that to catch on =P).

[Rocket Scientist @ Mar 2nd 2006 2:37AM]

Quote:
"...this could be really helpful for people without arms and such, and since its being made by microsoft you won't have problems configuring it and such"

No?? How you gonna plug it in without any arms?

[Rozan @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:10AM]

Hey guys most of us laughed at Apple when they showcased the mouse and look where it is today.

[JCG @ Mar 2nd 2006 6:13AM]

I want a big buttom of the side of my computer, so that when the computer crashed I can roundhouse kick it Chuck Norris style and it will reboot.

What they should really do: combine DDR with eyetoy. A geek disaster waiting to happen ;)

[fwkb @ Mar 2nd 2006 8:47AM]

I'd like it if I could chuck a cheap dancepad under my desk and use it for shift, alt and control. I spend a large part of the day trying to get my hands to stretch funny ways for repetitive keyboard shortcuts. And it drives me crazy when I have to keep going from mouse to keyboard to make those combos. I know you can get foot pedals that do exactly the same thing but last time I checked they were something like $200.

[Clintoni Corleoni @ Mar 15th 2006 4:30PM]

Most of the comments clearly show what depraved fecal matter the human race has produced. Making it possible for someone without arms or without the ability to control their apendages could enjoy using a computer as others can is a real gift for humanity.

A foot operated user interface will also be enjoyed by people learning to play an instrument. Many other uses will be adopted I am sure.

-- I want to thank the Microsoft crew that finally brought this forth.