Garbage Metaphor [Transcription of Video]


Nelson: What I hate about the Macintosh, after the vile so called clipboard -- the abominable hiddy hole -- is that it is not a computer. It is a paper simulator. So, the so called WYSIWYG is reducing everything to a two dimensional structure, because that is what the users will feel comfortable with. We can't jar them, so we have to use all these so called metaphors to make them feel comfortable. Like the garbage can. The garbage can metaphor! Now, that's a really reassuring metaphor. It means either save this or destroy it. If you put a file into the wastebasket, you destroy it, but if you put a disk into the wastebasket, you are saving it. So, that is what I call a really clear thing. No, I don't believe in metaphors. The point is to have clear virtualities --. i.e. construct logic which makes sense.


Return to Hypertext in Historical Context