About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design

The first computers were undersized, underpowered, and expensive, and didn't lend themselves easily to software sensitivity. The operators of these machines were white-lab-coated scientists who were sympathetic to the needs of the CPU and weren't offended when handed an error message. They knew how hard the computer was working. They didn't mind getting a core dump, a bomb, an "Abort, Retry, Fail?" or the infamous "FU" message (File Unavailable). This is how the tradition of software treating people like CPUs began. Ever since the early days of computing, programmers have accepted that the proper way for software to interact with humans was to demand input and to complain when the human failed to achieve the same perfection level as the CPU.

Examples of this approach exist wherever software demands that the user do things its way instead of the software adapting to the needs of the human. Nowhere is it more prevalent, though, than in the omnipresence of error messages.