This is a fascinating discussion. It is especially worth watching to the end.
Among other things, it seems like one could apply this argument to claim that the-web-as-interface is strictly better than the PARC-style GUI.
It well known, however, that Nelson objects to the web nearly as much as he objects to the "PUI". And this is because web is at best as a leaky simulation of multi-part document rather than a real implementation of Nelson's Xanadu vision (articulated in the 60's).
The thing is the Xanadu vision, multi-part documents with living links (distributed version control, permissions and etc) is more or less impractical to implement fully.
On the other hand, the point that a single-person word-processor certainly could use a series of piece a-la the pre-computer method he describes.
As Nelson mentions, one of the key ways the PUI was able to dominate was by organizing a variety of operations with a single metaphor. I suspect that Nelson is underestimating how important that is for making computers accessible to people.
It's really interesting to see, but in order for any of his idea to actually work you need to rethink the entire operating system it seems - not just the UI. He wants all content to have history, which would fundamentally break copy and paste (one of his points actually). The problem I see with that is you'd still have individual files (actual bits) on the hard drive, just they'd all have some meta content that describes it's origin. Or you'd need some sort of database file system (WinFS).
I'd like to see technology trending more this guy's way, but the reality is that the technological challenges seem to be too great at the moment.
I'm a software developer, and I (like many) prefer not to work in VIM. If that's not damning to the idea that people would embrace abstract interfaces -- that is, a computer professional preferring a more familiar metaphor -- then I don't know what is.
We're getting closer to that vision thanks to ideas like Android Intents. I don't know how many times I've been amazed and how smoothly applications share and communicate data among them without being specifically designed to collaborate.
Among other things, it seems like one could apply this argument to claim that the-web-as-interface is strictly better than the PARC-style GUI.
It well known, however, that Nelson objects to the web nearly as much as he objects to the "PUI". And this is because web is at best as a leaky simulation of multi-part document rather than a real implementation of Nelson's Xanadu vision (articulated in the 60's).
The thing is the Xanadu vision, multi-part documents with living links (distributed version control, permissions and etc) is more or less impractical to implement fully.
On the other hand, the point that a single-person word-processor certainly could use a series of piece a-la the pre-computer method he describes.
As Nelson mentions, one of the key ways the PUI was able to dominate was by organizing a variety of operations with a single metaphor. I suspect that Nelson is underestimating how important that is for making computers accessible to people.