Me and the XO

Originally uploaded by Hatchibombotar.

It seems like if you want to do something odd and interesting with interfaces, it helps to work on a product for children.

I am writing this on an XO computer, the “Laptop” part of “One Laptop Per Child.” It was a gift to my family from my mom and dad (thanks!). I think it is an interesting, fun little machine so far. My kids are less impressed, as it won’t play Flash videos or games, and is generally slow. My five-year-old says they should have called this the Slowest Computer Ever, rather than the XO.

The OS is Linux at heart, but the interface, called “Sugar,” is something quite different than the usual desktop-metaphor. One screen shows your machine amidst all the possible networks you can connect to and (hypothetically) shows the other XO users on the network, too. I can’t find the link right now, but whoever said the XO interface looks like Berzerk wasn’t far off.

Instead of toolbars and start menus, it has a “frame.” Rather than saving files in folders, everything you make and do is tracked in the “journal.” I haven’t yet discovered what happens when you run out of journal space.

In any case, using the XO is disorienting, and sometimes frustrating, but also a fun adventure. I’m not always sure what I’m doing, but it is interesting enough for me, so I keep trying.

Another Christmas gift for our five-year-old was the Sansa Shaker mp3 player. It is marketed for kids, but it’s nifty and seems pretty sturdy, and I kind of want one. It looks like a tiny drum, or, more to the point, a salt shaker. Unlike most mp3 players, it has a small (kind of tinny) speaker. It has only one button, for play/pause. Other controls, like volume, are on twist-rings at either end of the player. You can also change songs by simply shaking the player.

I haven’t got my mitts on a Chumby, but apparently squeezing the thing is part of the interface.

So while we haven’t quite reached the materialize the topaz orb interface yet, things are rapidly getting a bit silly. I’m imagining future conversations like “Am I supposed to breathe on this or just kind of blow on it?” or “No, you are supposed to scowl, and I’m pretty sure that you are grimacing instead.”