codegoboom
04-24-2005, 01:40 AM
http://www.ahleman.com/Props/ECDetail.gif
img @ http://www.ahleman.com/Props/ElectriClerk.html
Flash-forward... this movie (http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/80/8036/) must have been a metaphor for the modern human-computer interface! :eek:
It's like... Pull at your (desk)top, to get the better half, and it fights back. Files (papers) surround you, official dialogs (forms) pop up for constant approval, the file system is riddled with unknowable software components (exposed wires/hoses). But this is all "perfectly normal"--in accordance to specs; you're just an average user (clerk)--until you want to do something of your own free will (the dream). You unwittingly become a pseudo-programmer, because the dev-team (repairmen) poke at you to learn their tools--they want you to build things (that don't *really* work). When anything does happen to function well enough, you are (the terrorist) working against an operating system (Ministry of Works); the OS is constantly being patched (plastic surgery), and all of your work-arounds eventually get taken away ("This is your receipt, and this is my receipt for your receipt."). The language you finally halfway mastered may no longer be supported... is it a dream or a nightmare?
It's an exaggeration, if anything, but the thought did cross my mind... :rolleyes: Related:
Theoretical Context for *Brazil* (http://www.uta.edu/english/mal/consume/context.html)
Beyond the Command Line (http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/books/rochlin/chapter_02.html#p40)
What The Hell is Fitts's Law? (http://www.disenchanted.com/dis/technology/broker.html)
Why Software Will Never Stop Sucking (http://www.jerf.org/writings/wswnss.html)
img @ http://www.ahleman.com/Props/ElectriClerk.html
Flash-forward... this movie (http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/80/8036/) must have been a metaphor for the modern human-computer interface! :eek:
It's like... Pull at your (desk)top, to get the better half, and it fights back. Files (papers) surround you, official dialogs (forms) pop up for constant approval, the file system is riddled with unknowable software components (exposed wires/hoses). But this is all "perfectly normal"--in accordance to specs; you're just an average user (clerk)--until you want to do something of your own free will (the dream). You unwittingly become a pseudo-programmer, because the dev-team (repairmen) poke at you to learn their tools--they want you to build things (that don't *really* work). When anything does happen to function well enough, you are (the terrorist) working against an operating system (Ministry of Works); the OS is constantly being patched (plastic surgery), and all of your work-arounds eventually get taken away ("This is your receipt, and this is my receipt for your receipt."). The language you finally halfway mastered may no longer be supported... is it a dream or a nightmare?
It's an exaggeration, if anything, but the thought did cross my mind... :rolleyes: Related:
Theoretical Context for *Brazil* (http://www.uta.edu/english/mal/consume/context.html)
Beyond the Command Line (http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/books/rochlin/chapter_02.html#p40)
What The Hell is Fitts's Law? (http://www.disenchanted.com/dis/technology/broker.html)
Why Software Will Never Stop Sucking (http://www.jerf.org/writings/wswnss.html)