On Tue, Jul 23, 2002 at 11:49:56AM +0300, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote: > 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. >
And to whoever finds such discussions interesting, I suggest reading "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson (Search google, but take an html version, e.g. <http://www.spack.org/words/commandline.html> - it's better formated). It's one of the most enjoying books I have read recently. > 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] Didi ================================================================= 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]
