The interface has to be somewhere... (Score 1)

Raskin should understand better than anyone that the desktop environment is a metaphor. It's an abstract extension of the work environment. So who cares if you activate an application "out here" with a hotkey, or "in there" with a button, a menu, or a command line? In order to operate the device, you're still using an interface.

Of course people couldn't waste time piddling around on the desktop if there were no desktop. But that seems a bit draconian, doesn't it? I'd rather have a rich and configurable interface and use it however I want. That choice is worth something to me.

-jk