A device, or piece of hardware, that isn't really hardware at all. Just look at http://www.bigfoot.com/~selfaware (BrokenLink, 2007082). Looks a little TV-like, and is used to browse the WorldWideWeb. Yet it is totally constructed out of HyperTextMarkupLanguage, JavaScript, and images.
Counterpoint. From http://www.iarchitect.com/qtime.htm...
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- The QuickTime 4.0 Player sports a consumer interface, designed so that it "looks like" a physical consumer product. Apologists for this design philosophy maintain that users will more readily be able to transfer their knowledge of real-world objects to the software. Unfortunately, the apologists fail to recognize that there are two likely consequences of this approach: (1) the user is unable to transfer his or her existing knowledge of computer interaction, and (2) the software becomes needlessly subject to the limitations of the physical device.
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- -- InterfaceHallOfShame
Countercounterpoint. Media Players (without upsidedown floating heads as skins). They look like VCRs/cassette players and the interface is pretty good.
See also PaperAsInterfaceMetaphor
Virtual Device