Heh, my new speakers actually have *fake* tweeters. It's just some fancy plastic moulding. Or maybe i should say "iconic" tweeters, indicating speakers capable of high frequency output. No, fake is definitely the word.

Makes you wonder: what are the consequences of surrounding ourselves with functional objects that are shaped like icons of previous devices that did their job. Hall of mirrors territory. Not to mention stupid.

This is of course endemic in computer interfaces. Calculator apps that look like... calculators. This surely has to be the stupidest interface design ever, if i want to type a number, i will type it on this keyboard i have right here. Python is easier to use as a calculator. Xine with its DVD-player icon. It's !@#$ annoying, all those fiddly inscrutible buttons, arranged in pointlessly neat grids. I want my pull down menus and tool bars. XMMS... an audio output application that takes all the worst design elements of actual CD players.

For that matter, buttons that look like physical buttons. Help systems that are actually separate from the application, like a physical manual. Windows that, like sheets of paper, are fully opaque, and sit on the desktop passively rather than flowing around each other as the focus changes. Toolbars with icons in neatly uninformative rows, where a well designed interface would emphasize some and push others to the background.

Until we embrace the full fluidity of computer displays, we're going to be stuck in the dark ages.