The Mac's new OS X erodes the familiar user interface metaphor as Web browsers and the command line assert their influence.
Reports of the death of the personal computer have been greatly exaggerated. The beige box, keyboard and mouse are still serving most computer users well, while advanced interfaces such as voice recognition and virtual reality are not yet a part of ordinary computing. The trusty "windows" metaphor is going strong too. Yet one familiar PC metaphor-the desktop-may be on its way to history's virtual dumpster.
A spectacular overthrow of the desktop will soon be seen on the computer that popularized the graphical user interface in the first place: the Macintosh. Its OS X operating system, with its new Aqua interface, is now slated to appear early in 2001 (two years behind schedule). Given the pioneering role of the Macintosh in computer usability, Mac OS X could be setting the standard for interfaces in the early part of this century.
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This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
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