RSSMicrosoft Hires PC Interface Expert
By the Betanews Staff | Published December 19, 2005, 3:21 PM
Microsoft announced Monday that it had hired Canadian human-computer interaction researcher Bill Buxton to assist the company as a senior researcher in the Microsoft Research division. Buxton would continue to work from Canada, while making regular trips to the Redmond lab, as well as to international locations. His first residency would be at the Cambridge, England lab for four months starting in January 2006.
Buxton specializes in technologies, techniques and theories of input to computers, technology-mediated collaboration between people, and ubiquitous computing, according to Microsoft. He most recently served as chief scientist from 1994 to 2002 for Alias Systems, a subsidiary of SGI. "We're proud and fortunate to have Bill, a leader in the Canadian research community, join Microsoft Research," Microsoft Research senior vice president Rick Rashid said.
Its about time. Now maybe we can get away from this point and click, drag and drop crap and come up with something that actually improves productivity.
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|They shoulda gave me this job....lol
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|refresh me.. ho many "human-computer interaction researcher" linux community has...I can't recall one. I can recall stupid interfaces in linux bases OSs though.
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|Actually SUN spent a small fortune on GNOME usability recently.
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/
I bet more than one person wrote that. ;-)
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|A PC Interface Expert that has a crappy website........hmmmm.
http://www.billbuxton.com/
Real nice site buddy.
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|Not all websites must contain "Cool animations" or "Cool colors" etc etc... You obviousely are not educated in this matter.
His website is great and it starts very refreshing. It is simple and informative. Without any kind of mess.
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|If it looked like that and was a gaming protal, I'd be concerned.
If it looked like that and was a Headline News Organization, I would be concerned.
If it was a biographical site for an acedemic, aimed at informing? I'd say it fits that description damn well.
If it was a biographical site for an academic and it had flash, and java, and useless pop-ups, and didn't do anything it was intended (but made people go "Aaahhhhh...")? I'd be more than alittle concerned.
Get it?
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|Yeah, that's all he needs though. A 5min website made with MSFT Front page! It definatly looks like Front Page work. View Page Source. You can tell by the coding style.
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|Thank you Canada!
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|Seems like a very experienced guy. According to his website he will be coming to work in Cambridge here in the UK for a few months, so welcome Mister Buxton. I can recommend the Fitzwilliam museum and the local fudge shop.
His website homepage is rather academic, right down the the last sentence, where he reveals a life-long fascination with his wife (and art). I am delighted for him, of course, and I hope that he is just as fascinated with Windows :-)
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|Or not, since one might assume his job is to redesign it.
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|Keep in mind; he will be working with the "Microsoft Research division" and not with Windows. In other words, he is not there to redesign Windows, more then likely he is there to redesign the “Look and Feel” that all the Microsoft Interfaces use.
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|They've only been building Operating systems for how many years?
"It's about time" doesn't even begin....
guy's been around the block a bit:
http://www.billbuxton.com/
Yowza.
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|Interestingly enough his website is the least user-friendly I have seen in a while. It's like a bad newspaper layout with a bunch of links.
But I'm sure his site is not a reflection of his work.
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|god i hope not. the word "atrocious" comes to mind.
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|It's an acedemic website. Not a funky flash-based portal to a gaming site.
What it is intended to do, it does very well.
It's there to inform, not to entertain.
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|I agree with you that it is an attempt at an academic informational site. I myself am a "professional" student (continuously after another degree because I like the academic world -- it keeps me sane from my real career world that I'm in).
My point, however is that I am not looking for flash or glitz; "academic" is hardly an excuse for bad organization. If anything, the academic world I am in is very much focused on minimizing graphics just for the sake of it. You can make a structured site without ever using a single image. An informational site is not useful when you have to read all the text in order to find what you're looking for...that's all.
It's like having a phonebook without an index. But that is just my personal opinion. :-)
AHB
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