Iconism Gone Mad

Using word this morning, I noticed that a little red toolbox up on the toolbar had begun pulsing. Many years ago, I published on article on semiotics and GUI design arguing that there are real limitations to what can be communicated with icons. This was a great example: What, exactly, is a little, pulsing red toolbox supposed to mean? (It turns out Word had decided, in one of its frequent decisions that it's high time to interrupt my workflow, that it was the perfect moment for a "compatibility check.")