Immediacy & Hypermediacy of Windows

Windows, as an operating system has been very successful that the rivals of it, still are using the similar designs in their systems. The design of the interfaces, menus, toolbars, dialog boxes, buttons, etc, everything is based upon the shape of windows, very simple and no place for multiple interpretations. I think the immediacy of the medium comes from this simple idea.

First, in the epistemological sense, we are so used to rectangular shaped opening and closing windows that the shape of the interfaces are transparent to us. Paintings, photographs, televisions, cinemas, computers, etc; almost everything we see around us are in the shape of rectangles. Secondly, in the psychological sense, we love the act of watching."Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak" says John Berger (Ways of Seeing, 1972). However, what we see is brought within our reach. Therefore, living in the socially constructed worlds, we learn watching: we watch the outside through the windows, we watch TV, we watch the vitrines of the shops, we watch the cinema, we watch people, we watch people fighting and on and on; and in many times just the act of watching. So, offering so many screens for us to watch, windows of Windows disappear and the objects inside them become present to us.

What about the hypermediacy? I think, in its epistemological sense, the knowledge of the world -maybe just the social world for some, political world for another or the business and so many different worlds at the same time for most- comes us through the Windows. We learn the new ways of communication with our friends (windows messenger), we learn the new ways of listening to music (windows media player), we learn the new ways of researching (windows explorer), we learn the new ways of shopping (windows marketplace), and lots of other features that we have to spend lots of hours to learn all. Also we learn about the mediation itself. The menus and toolbars are always there within the broader window surrounding another one. But in the psychological sense, some parts are falling away from the experience of the 'real'.

Of course the notion of 'real' is socially constructed and it can vary according to different people. However, taking the word 'window' in the meaning of "wind's eye" (vindauga -where the word originates from) or in the meaning of "eye-hole" we see that the sharp rectangular shape of the windows falls behind the 'real life' ones'. Also the orderliness of the windows with all the menus and buttons attached, and the precise timing and falling into the screen while opening the windows is another feature which is an 'unrealistic' experience too.

I don't mean a non-geometrical shaped window, like the real shape of an eye would be much more realistic; but according to me, rounded shapes feels much more gentle, natural and humane -like the ones in the wii interface.