Stephenson spends quite a lot of energy underlining the dangers of 'Metaphor Shear', and you do a pretty good job of making him look just a tad hysterical. I think it is a very good thing to consider, however, for the reason that many, many people - hackers and lusers (as the dichotomy goes) alike - very, very often have deep trouble with the interfaces of their computers. Quite a lot of the time, the machines do not act in the way the user expects, and while this can sometimes be chalked up to user idiocy, there are still a lot of cases where it needs to be addressed.
I think, however, that the lesson of this problem, and where you make more sense than Stephenson, is not that metaphors are bad and we should all work as close to the actual bytes as we can (I say this even as a diehard vim zealot), but instead that metaphors are really hard to do well. Interface design is hard, and frankly is a bit behind where it should be. I think there are a lot of things about modern operating system interfaces which are ass-backwards, but unfortunately that's just because the tasks demand better design, not because the notion of a GUI is an inherent scam.
I apologize for offering my unsolicited comments. Nevertheless, I appreciated your additions.
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Metaphor Shear
Date: 2005-01-18 04:19 pm (UTC)I think, however, that the lesson of this problem, and where you make more sense than Stephenson, is not that metaphors are bad and we should all work as close to the actual bytes as we can (I say this even as a diehard vim zealot), but instead that metaphors are really hard to do well. Interface design is hard, and frankly is a bit behind where it should be. I think there are a lot of things about modern operating system interfaces which are ass-backwards, but unfortunately that's just because the tasks demand better design, not because the notion of a GUI is an inherent scam.
I apologize for offering my unsolicited comments. Nevertheless, I appreciated your additions.