The desktop metaphor as an approach to user interface design (panel discussion)

One Xerox innovation that seems to be spreading throughout the industry is an approach to user interface design first brought to the marketplace in the 8010 Star Workstation and later given additional exposure via the Apple Lisa and Macintosh: the Desktop Metaphor. This design approach is intended to facilitate one’s use of the system by making the manipulation of information in the system analogous to the manipulation of physical objects on a desktop. The choice of office objects in particular is intended to facilitate learning by capitalizing on users’ familiarity with such objects and with procedures involving them. This raises some questions: