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From: ccc_ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Pfui to GUI
Summary: What it's *really* all about
Message-ID: <216.25f9020e@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 10 Mar 90 00:33:02 GMT
Lines: 23

Let's get one thing straight: "GUI" is a term invented by techno-nerds,
Microsoft Windows programmers, and people who read Byte magazine.
The pretty graphics on that screen we all know and love is only a means
to an end, and that end is called direct manipulation.

This means not just that you get graphical representations of computing
objects on-screen, but that you can perform useful operations on them
in a straightforward fashion. Mac users are used to performing all
kinds of manipulations (viewing, printing, editing, rearranging etc)
without even thinking about them.

It also leaves the door open to adding non-visual forms of interaction,
such as sound and tactile feedback, all with the aim of making those
manipulations even more natural and direct.

So the next time someone shows you some neat new box and tells you
"it's easy to use--it's got a GUI", just ask them, "yes, but does it
allow direct manipulation?"

Lawrence "Let's Out-Buzz the Buzzword Bozos" D'Oliveiro
Computer Services Department, University of Waikato
Hamilton, New Zealand
ldo@waikato.ac.nz