Comment by Terr_
7 years ago
> The usefulness of most interfaces is that they abstract something real.
When I think someone is overenthusiastic about virtual reality applications (especially stuff involving "collaboration") I like to contrast it with an insanely-successful tool with broad adoption: E-mail.
Who wants to take their message, drop it into a virtual envelope, affix a virtually-licked stamp and virtually-walk to the local virtual-post-office?
Heck no, we just click the big "Send" button! We didn't model the cruft in 3D, we removed it, because it wasn't truly necessary to the job.
Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Carmack is talking about good UI for VR applications - not why VR applications are a mistake.
You can still send emails in 3d. Except you do it from a virtual beach.