Comment by jart
2 years ago
When you say train dispatching and control panels, I think you've illustrated how confused this whole discussion is. There should be a separate term called "operator interface" that is separate from "user interface" because UIs have never had any locus of control, because they're for users, and operators are the ones in control. Requesting that an LLM do something is like pressing the button to close the doors of an elevator. Do you feel in charge?
Oh my. This is the first time I've seen this kind of distinction between "users" and "operators" in context of a single system. I kind of always assumed that "operator" is just a synonym for "user" in industries/contexts that are dealing with tools instead of toys.
But this absolutely makes sense, and it is a succinct description for the complaints some of us frequently make about modern UI trends: bad interfaces are the ones that make us feel like "users", where we expect to be "operators".
I’ve seen such a distinction before, but I’ve been around telescopes and particle accelerators. Single system, but different roles in the same system with a different UI.
Oh snap, did I just pull back the curtain?
You put into words the things I've noticed UIs evolving away from.
It just feels like UIs of software 10,20, even 30 years ago were designed for "operators", people that actually worked with the software for hours at end, and so with a little bit of learning you could be dancing with keybindings and doing stuff as fast as CLI nerds.
Nowadays most seems to be optimized for first hour of use of new user and not much else, and the exceptions are software made "by operators, for operators", like for example KiCAD.
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Indeed you did; half of my brain capacity is currently being used by a background process sifting through everything I remember ever thinking or learning that's associated with computers, to re-evaluate it in context of the difference between "users" and "operators".
Seriously. Until your comment, I thought the two terms to be synonyms.
UIs have never the locus of control, because they're for users, and operators are the ones in control.
Not really any more. The control systems for almost everything complicated now look like ordinary desktop or phone user interfaces. Train dispatching centers, police dispatching centers, and power dispatching centers all look rather similar today.
That's because they're computer users.