I am confident that we can do better than GUIs because the basic problem with them (and with the Linux and Unix interfaces) is that they ask a human being to do things that we know experimentally humans cannot do well. The question I asked myself is, given everything we know about how the human mind works, could we design a computer and computer software so that we can work with the least confusion and greatest efficiency?

A computer shall not harm your work or, through inaction, allow your work to come to harm.

An unlimited-length file name is a file. The content of a file is its own best name.

A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary.

The system should treat all user input as sacred.

I hate mice. The mouse involves you in arm motions that slow you down. I didn't want it on the Macintosh, but Jobs insisted. In those days, what he said went, good idea or not.

When you have to choose among methods, your locus of attention is drawn from the task and temporarily becomes the decision itself.