ITSME, presentazione

1 § Giorgio De Michelis, March 2008

§ Giorgio De Michelis, March 2008

ITSMEthe alliance between research and design

for a radical innovation in the workstation domain


Fatti non foste a viver come bruti,ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza.

Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.

Dante Alighieri , La Divina Commedia, Inferno,Canto XXVI, 119-120, Transl. by A. Mandelbaum


Foreword


Out of the mainstream

While everyone is looking at the Web andat the electronic gadgets of Ambient Intelligence,we are looking in a different direction:

at workstations

at operating systems

at email

at productivity tools and other applications


Are we wrong? No!

We are just anticipating what everyone will do in the future!

With current operating systems, we can not developinnovative applications.

Recent developments on workstations have increased thenumber of functions and features but not improved them.

The web is not the right environment for developingTechnologies for the Knowledge SocietyInnovation has beenstarving for many years.

Re-launching innovation in ICT


Is the market readyfor what we propose?

People are not expecting what we propose, but

The venerable ‘desktop metaphor’ looks more and more inadequatein supporting the most demanding users of workstations

We have innovative ideas for changing the fundamental services ICTcan offer users. We believe that if we present them effectively,people will react positively, discovering that they need what we areoffering.


Breaking the boundaries between developers and users

Open source software

A community of people involved in the initiative at different levels

Opening a wide discussion on the perspectives of the informationsociety

Bringing research again into the main game

Bringing design into the high-tech industry

A new developmentand marketing strategy


Our promise

Our initiative has a high risk profile.

We do not promise capital gains or market shares.

Our initiative has been seriously developed within oneyear of initial discussion with eminent people fromresearch, industry and finance.

We believe we can realize a new workstation whichusers will appreciate for its innovative services.


Leveraging on design

Innovative and user friendly technology, computingand emotions!

Our initiative emerges at the crossroad between softwaredevelopment and user experience, high-tech engineeringand interaction design, ICT and Made in Italy, productdesign and stake-holders’ participation.


The concept


ICT is starving for Innovation

No real innovation in the last twenty years in operating systems,workstations and productivity tools.

The killing applications of these past years are not innovative(Web 2.0).

No investments in improving productivity tools, email systems &other applications and operating systems.

In conclusion, a slight but constant drift towards the ‘webization’of ICT applications.


The limits of the desktop metaphor

Desktop metaphor has been able to order workstationcontents in a simple and intuitive way.

But it has not solved any of the problems people encounterwhile managing their actions and interactions.

Where is the message John sent me about that issue? Wheredid Rick tell me that important thing? Which is the relevantpart of this huge document?


Workstations today

Workstations have not changed for over 20 years, except forincreasing their features and consequently their complexity.

Workstations are still easy to use but they are unable toaccomodate the complexity of human actions and interactions.

Workstations risk becoming browsing machines.


Beyond the desktop metaphor

The desktop metaphor is over thirty years old.And it shows!

The displays of today’s workstations are either populatedwith a huge number of icons or require functionalcommands to find an object.

In both cases, users frequently do not find what they arelooking for, or find the wrong thing.


A new metaphor: stories and venues

Our life interweaves a large number of different stories

Each story has its participants and objects

Each story has its venue, where you can access its participants and objects

Each person lives in several diverse interweaving venues

The new metaphor is characterized by its being plural and its reflectingsituatedness of human experience


ITSME /a workstation based on the venue metaphor

At any moment, ITSME presents the venue of the storyto its owner in which he or she is acting

ITSME owners do not need to search for things: they have them ready at hand

ITSME creates, maintains and updates the venues of its owner

ITSME venues can be easily corrected, modified and/or organized by itsowner

ITSME is not intrusive: its behavior is purely reactive


ITSME in synthesis

ITSME helps its users to manage the complexityof their social environment

ITSME is not intelligent, increases the intelligence of its users

ITSME embodies several groupware and knowledge management services

ITSME opens new possibilities to the design of social computing systems

ITSME represents a turning point in the personal computing concept


The target users of ITSME

High value users, i.e. all those who live a great number of stories at thesame time, who have a great number of interactions with other people,manage loads of information, but do not have adequate support to managethe complexity of their life.

Professionals

Managers

Intellectuals

Knowledge workers


The tip of an iceberg

ITSME is the first of a new generation of ICT systems

Starving fields like operating systems, email systems,productivity tools, groupware, knowledge management, willbe encouraged to innovate through ITSME

ITSME is an opportunity for a radical improvement of theservices offered by ICT


Development milestones

A three year process

Two years for the development of the front-end(spring 2008 - spring 2010)

One year and a half for the development of a hardwareprototype (spring 2009 - autumn 2010)

Two years for the development of the migration supportsystem (autumn 2008 - autumn 2010)


The market conditions

Three active communities, supporting ITSME from the very beginning

Research (CSCW, KM; Interaction Design)

Open source software (Linux community)

High-Tech industry (in particular in Europe)

Good coverage of ITSME milestones by media and research communityworld-wide. Support from public institutions in Italy and Europe


Selling an innovation

Proving ITSME’s added value with respect to competitors.

Proving system and after market assistance reliability of theITSME initiative.

Guaranteeing small migration costs (moving from Vista orMacintosh to ITSME is not more costly than moving fromone version to another of those systems).


The product


ITSME components

An open-source operating system embodying the venuemetaphor in its front-end.

A service supporting the migration of users from Apple andMicrosoft workstations to ITSME.

A consistent and reliable plan for further improvements ofthe system.

A new workstation, with a radically new design.


ITSME / the operating system

A radically new front-end to Linux, based on two simple rules:objects created in a venue remain there

objects arriving with the reply to a message coming froma venue go in that venueIn the venue where a story is performed, users can access on the one hand theirpartners in that story, on the other hand, the objects, email messages and webbookmarks created, exchanged and shared in it. Objects of a venue are organizedby default on a time basis.



Venues may be further organized (sub-venues, folders) by usersOne-click mechanisms for correcting, modifying andorganizing venues

A transit zone is always accessible in the screen to moveand/or copy objects

A search engine for searching in other venues



Applications are executed in Linux

The front-end is perfectly coupled with the underlying Linuxoperating system, so that the system performs effectively

The front end is based on a newly conceived interface designallowing users to understand effortlessy what is going on,even when changes are not generated by the user


The migration service

Associating applications running in Vista and/or Macintosh to theapplications running in Linux, allowing users to continue working ontheir files

Selecting a Vista (Macintosh) emulator to run applications notsupported in Linux

Creating by default an ‘Old’ venue where the contents of the previousmachine is stored and presented

Defining the interaction protocol for creating new venues and placingobjects


ITSME / further improvements

A new Linux file system, where files can be tagged, linked andhave an XML structure

An email system supporting conversations, with bi-directionallinks between messages and attachments

A browser locating its bookmarks in the file system

Navigation systems within venues

Multiple views of venues


The company


The partners of ITSME

Giorgio De Michelis, who will be its CEO

A group (≥20) of founding partners, subscribing the majority of itscapital

A group of academic institutions (among which, University of Milano -Bicocca, whose it will be a spin-off)

The managers of the company, who will receive warrants, allowingthem to participate in value creation

Venture capitalists, who will provide the financial resources needed toreach its objectives


The ITSME Association

A nonprofit association will be created to better access publicfunding for open source code development

GDM and ITSME will control the Association

The Association will be open to research and academic institutions

The Association will allow significant cost reduction, if design anddevelopment will be funded by public institutions


Thank you for your attention!

[email protected]

ITSME, presentazione

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