>I hate to rain on people's parades. I've been reading this thread since it started. I'm as interested in striking, interesting, and intuitive interfaces as anyone else. But I have to point out...
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Interfaces need to be accessible to people with disabilities. That means that everything on them needs to work without touching a mouse. It means that everything still needs to "fit" in some fashion if the user runs at a low resolution on a big monitor or uses a screen magnifier or larger fonts. And it means that everything on them needs to be "speakable" by screen-reader software.

We are fast approaching the time when I/O devices (keyboards, mouse, monitor, speakers) will be obsolete.

But I agree - infact in high volumn services - 99% of the interface are not used. The workflow boils down to a few keystrokes a couple of enter keys and then recycles. My projects usually fucus the save button after the "last" field exit and the focus the "new" button afte save is pressed - unless the user "profile" designates a new "entry" automatically after save).

I don't think the goal is to remove focusable controls (or turn off tool tips that can be "repeated" by an audio assit). Most interfaces would have at least one redundancy level. A toolbar button (not focusable - but does have hot keys) will have a corresponding command button (focusable and hot keys) and right click pop-up menus (that can [also] be activated with hotkeys, selected with arrow koys and force actions with enter keys). Menus on the main form an also have corresponding toolbar attributes (both can be fired my hot keys).

So we're not talking around usable GUIs for challenged people - redundancy should cover that - but we are the descendants of tree-hoping fruit harvestors, so color and visual presentation are important - and sex appeal in the software business boils down to looks and speed!

There are technologies for handicapped that are moving to market. FOr example, SONY owns a patent that "beams" signals to the visual centers. Scary when we consider the mind control implications - but great for those cases where the eye cannot see but the "brain" can.

You have a good point - but a sensible "redundancy" scheme (which is important to any software interface) should address those issues.