An article in Good Experience, a wonderful user-experience newsletter from Mark
Hurst of the design firm Creative Good (http://www.creativegood.com) referenced
a recent piece in the L. A. Times by Gary Chapman. (Chapman is director of
the 21st Century Project at the University of Texas in Austin.) In this article
(which you can read at
http://www.latimes.com/business/columns/dnation/20010215/t000013645.html),
Chapman says:

"[UI guru Ben]Shneiderman also has proposed a feature for all software that
would let users choose what level of expertise, or how many features, their
operating system and applications will support. 

"A step in this direction is reflected in an operating system called Athena,
from
Rocklyte Systems (http://www.rocklyte.com). The Web site says that the new
approach is a "multi-platform operating system that provides users with a
totally configurable, XML-based graphical interface." Athena can look like any
familiar operating system or something completely novel, and it can be simple
or complex according to user preference. Currently, it's available for Linux
computers, but Rocklyte promises versions for Windows and Apple systems later
this year. It also can be set to run on hand-helds, computer kiosks and set-top
TV boxes."

In view of our recent discussion about new UI paradigms and zooming interfaces,
I thought this was quite intriguing and would be of some interest to at least
some members of the Squeak community who see our beloved environment as a
playground for UI experimentation as I do.

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