I watched “Cloud Atlas” last night and there is a lot of ‘Minority Report’ style interfaces in it. What struck me was these interfaces are used in movies to forward the story- the third person can see and understand what is going on, rather than have lots of text or spoken exposition. This style of interface may be best used for presentations or collaborative work rather than one person at a workstation.
I think for comfort, ergonomics and accuracy a tabletop is better. There is a precision when a hand (or a hand holding a pen) is against a tabletop, which is lost when a hand is waving around in front of you.
My uni is researching this:
http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/projects/digital-foam/
