Jef Raskin quotes

Jef Raskin was an American computer scientist and human–computer interface expert, best known for initiating the Macintosh project at Apple. His work emphasized simplicity and usability in computer design. He influenced the development of user-friendly interfaces and remains an important figure in the history of personal computing. Here are 31 of his quotes:

Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining. (Jef Raskin)
As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product. View quote
Jef Raskin
A computer shall not harm your work or, through inaction, allow your work to come to harm. View quote
Jef Raskin
An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties. View quote
Jef Raskin
Right now, computers, which are supposed to be our servant, are oppressing us. View quote
Jef Raskin
Users do not care about what is inside the box, as long as the box does what they need done. View quote
Jef Raskin
A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary. View quote
Jef Raskin
The system should treat all user input as sacred. View quote
Jef Raskin
Once the product's task is known, design the interface first; then implement to the interface design. View quote
Jef Raskin
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. View quote
Jef Raskin
What I proposed was a computer that would be easy to use, mix text and graphics, and sell for about $1,000. Steve Jobs said that it was a crazy idea, that it would never sell, and we didn't want anything like it. He tried to shoot the project down. (Jef Raskin)
When you have to choose among methods, your locus of attention is drawn from the task and temporarily becomes the decision itself. View quote
Jef Raskin
An unlimited-length file name is a file. The content of a file is its own best name. View quote
Jef Raskin
If I am correct, the use of a product based on modelessness and monoty would soon become so habitual as to be nearly addictive, leading to a user population devoted to and loyal to the product. View quote
Jef Raskin
Jobs took over. He simply came in and said, "I'm taking over Macintosh hardware; you can have software and publications." ... And then a few months later Jobs said, "I'm taking over software; you can have publications." So I said, "You can have publications too," and left. That was in May of 1982. He and Markkula said, "Please don't leave. Give us another month and we'll make you an offer you can't refuse." View quote
Jef Raskin
I've moved on, grown and learned in the years since then, and am designing interfaces that make the Mac's GUI feel as clumsy to use as the Mac made the old DOS-based systems feel primitive. View quote
Jef Raskin
After he took over, Jobs came up with the story about the Mac project being a "pirate operation." We weren't trying to keep the project away from Apple, as he later said; we had very good ties with the rest of Apple. We were trying to keep the project away from Jobs' meddling. For the first two years, Jobs wanted to kill the project because he didn't understand what it was really all about. View quote
Jef Raskin
We have a whole valley full of people talking UNIX versus MS-DOS. What do you need any of that for? Just throw it all out; get rid of all that nonsense. Maybe you need it for computer scientists, but for people who want to get something done, no. Do you need an operating system? No. View quote
Jef Raskin
It's absolutely ugly, but unfortunately quite true of the world today; the more money you make, the more people tend to listen to you. If you're not quoted in Fortune or Forbes or the Wall Street Journal, then nobody listens. If you say something that makes a lot of money, whether what you said is true or not, people listen. View quote
Jef Raskin
It would be wonderful if we could just tuck in a few loose ends and change a handful of details of present systems to have them work properly. Unfortunately, we have learned that the GUI concept has fundamental flaws that cannot be corrected by small changes. These flaws have to do with incompatibilities between the designs of both GUIs and command-line interfaces and the way our brains are wired. As we cannot change the way our minds work, we must change the interface design. View quote
Jef Raskin
I was very much amused by the recent Newsweek article where he [Jobs] said, "I have a few good designs in me still." He never had any designs. He has not designed a single product. Woz (Steve Wozniak) designed the Apple II. Ken Rothmuller and others designed Lisa. My team and I designed the Macintosh. Wendell Sanders designed the Apple III. What did Jobs design? Nothing. (Jef Raskin)
Now there is little difference, except packaging, between a Mac and a Windows machine. Not no difference, but at home we have - along with six Macs (one for everybody plus my travelling iBook) - three PCs and one Linux box, and I can move from one to the other without having to think about it much. What used to be a night-and-day difference in usability has become a small increment in Apple's favor. View quote
Jef Raskin
I'm developing cross platform now, and I'm as interested in helping as many people as possible to have a better experience when using computers. Morality demands that I write for Wintel machines first (Linux comes along free), and port to Macs when there is time. View quote
Jef Raskin
Icons, windows, mice, big operating systems, huge programs, integrated packages.... I would like to remind the world that just because two things are on the same menu doesn't mean they taste good together. View quote
Jef Raskin
Have you ever noticed that there are no Maytag user groups? Nobody needs a mutual support group to run a washing machine. View quote
Jef Raskin