A GUI is the now-familiar collection of icons and buttons that users see on their screen and click on to launch programs. GUIs first replaced text menus when Apple Computer introduced its Macintosh platform, and are now standard in the Microsoft Windows environment also. It eliminates the buttons and static screens with interactive virtual reality through which the user moves.
Movement is achieved by the use of either the keyboard or the mouse.
As the user appears to move, labeled doors appear. He says its use causes the viewer to spend more time with the custom presentation. According to the company, viewers used to spend on average 20 to 30 minutes viewing the presentation on the company's demonstration disk. After the VRI was added, the typical viewing time is now 60 minutes or more. Undlin told Newsbytes the VRI does not require a helmet like the virtual reality games currently in vogue.