http://cargocollective.com/jayse/Avengers. Some information here about the user interfaces used in the Avengers movie. These touch screen interfaces were used a lot in the movie. The touch screen computer model is all the rage at the moment even if it is not that useful when using a computer for a long period. Especially when using a computer for word processing and graphic design. But the computer interface that Tony Stark uses that involves hand gestures to control 3D models is now a reality. There is now a USB device that can track hand movements and translate them into computer commands. This could be a very tiring method of controlling your computer though; it is better to use a keyboard and mouse to perform computing tasks and not hand gestures; here is the link though if you are interested: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/22/tech/innovation/leap-motion-control/index.html. Just because one movie like Minority Report uses the gesture-based interface; all other movies think that it is a good idea. Sure; the holodeck styled rendering of 3D models in thin air like in the movie Iron Man is a good idea though; that is one technology that would be popular.
A real-world Minority Report interface has been developed, but this kind of interface might not be to everyone`s taste, but the video on the linked site is worth watching. Still; real-world anti-gravity is one movie staple that would be a good thing to develop in real-life; that would be a boon to the environment as far less energy would be required to move things around; not to forget that an anti-gravity alternative to semi-trailer trucks would be much quieter. But getting back to the Avengers; the see-through computer screens would not be the best thing if there was a lot of ambient lighting around as there was in the flying aircraft carrier. If you put a dark tinted backing on the glass screens; that would be a significant improvement. In the TRON Legacy film, there was a touch screen that was laid flat on the table; that makes more sense. If I push back my keyboard and pretend that my computer desk is that screen; the act of pretending to type on the table feels very comfortable; better than the touch screen being vertical. Something like that could actually work. Sure someone has already made an analogue of the Tron Legacy keyboard as an open-source application; this could be a good project to build a keyboard into a table as seen in the movie. Coupled with a small screen to show output; this could be a good project to display the output of your own Solaris UNIX machine.
The Windows 8 and Unity interfaces are a long way from the interfaces shown in the Avengers movie; we will wait and see what the future brings. The 1968 movie “2001” had flat screen displays on the interplanetary spaceship Discovery. This could have influenced the development of modern tablet computers. They may use the controls at the bottom of the screen to control them though and may not be a touch screen. Very prescient for 1968 though.