Gilad Ben-Yossef <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > As for the Desktop sillinies, some historical perspective is due. > Somewhere around 1980 a couple of smart people in Xerox PARC and Apple > computers realised that in order to get the mundanes to use computers > they must make sure computers provide a similar interface to what those > people were used to. Most knowledge workers at that time worked with > desktops (real table desktops, not computers!) so they made the computer > interface imitate that, complete with bug to bug compatability, like > making you do something sepcial to 'uncover' windows when other windows > are above them just like pieces of paper... (thank you Oleg for the > example :-).
And since you have so artfully dragged me into it [ ;-) ], let me add my Euro 0.02 to the historical perspective: recall that those Apple developers used an advanced (for that time) CLI for their own work, not the desktop metaphor. In my mind, besides the artificial and backward nature of the desktop metaphor, this is a basic point related to the way you interact with the system. A menu-driven GUI lets you choose between the options offered. A language that the computer understands (bash, perl, scsh, insert you favourite here) allows you to explain to the computer what you want. This metaphor [if you allow me to stretch the meaning of the word this far] describes the actual state of interfaces better than "desktop", IMHO. Also note that Linux desktops do offer autoraise, and out of ther box, too, while M$ doesn't... -- Oleg Goldshmidt | [EMAIL PROTECTED] "IBM is a pretty big company." [W. Gates] ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
