Don't Mode Me In

Sounds an awful lot like the teachings of Jef Raskin. I read The Humane Interface years ago and I seem to remember him talking about modeless interfaces. Definitely worth a read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humane_Interface" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humane_Interface</a>

<a href="http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?NoApplication" rel="nofollow">http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?NoApplication</a> is also a good read, especially when the Rise of the App seems to be the big new thing. I'm not convinced about Apps -- I think NoApplication is where we will get to in not so long.