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Conclusion
On the one hand, interface metaphors highlight some aspects of real-world desktops; on the other, they contain additional elements. Since metaphors can be self-fullfilling prophecies, these additional elements seem to fit to the metaphor. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine other metaphors because the desktop metaphor is very close to the context of computer usage.
Although an attempt was made to regard the desktop metaphor in a linguistic context, the notion of the desktop as a virtual space dominates the way the desktop metaphor is perceived. This notion has already affected computer vocabulary and other areas of the real world when talking about computers. The virtual space is the basis of human-computer interaction rather than an utterance. It is the "world", whereas a program seems to be the context of an interaction or even the conversation partner. A more detailled discussion about programs follows in the next section in which windows are examined.
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Tom Alby
2000-05-30
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