> At the time Microsoft spent a ton of money in usability research, that no free environment could afford It was a combined effort with IBM. https://en.wikiped

> At the time Microsoft spent a ton of money in usability research, that no free environment could afford It was a combined effort with IBM. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access Note that even the obsolete parts of the CUA is still supported on modern Windows! for example, CTRL+C and CTRL+V might have won as the favored keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste, but CTRL+INSERT and SHIFT+INSERT still works! The CUA design documents had a very large impact on the approach taken at Microsoft in designing GUI software and standardizing interactions. Of course, standardizing keyboard shortcuts are but a tiny part of the ambitions behind the CUA. It's still a very good read to this day for anyone interested in the design of user interfaces. Here's an excerpt of one of my favorite points made in the documents : >The user interface should be forgiving. User actions should be easily >reversed. When users are in control, they should be able to explore >without fear of causing an irreversible mistake. Because >learn-by-exploring environments involve trial and error, users should be >able to back up or undo their previous action. Actions that are >destructive (that may cause the unexpected loss of the users' information) >require a confirmation. Users should feel more comfortable with a >computer when their mistakes do not cause serious or irreversible results. >To users, the unexpected loss of their information is the most frustrating >and destructive application occurrence. When you allow users the >opportunity to change their minds about an action that would destroy >significant data, you provide a forgiving interface, even if you are >unable to allow them to undo the action after it is completed.