✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Macintosh, Windows, and the "GUI"

cs.calvin.edu · 611 words · saved by 1 readers

Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple computer, realized the how much of an obstacle the difficult command-line interface posed to the development of a truly "personal" computer rather than a computer for computer specialists. Apple had had enormous success with its Apple II, which debuted in 1977; however, they were losing market share to the IBM PC, which debuted in 1981. Like the DOS-driven PC, the Apple II's operating system had a command-line interface. While touring Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (AKA "Xerox PARC"), Steve Jobs saw a demonstration of a graphical user interface (GUI) that Xerox had developed earlier in the 1970s for their Alto computer but then scrapped. Instead of requiring the user to learn arcane commands, the graphical user interface was much more intuitive: using a pointing device dubbed a "mouse," the user could pick options from menus and was guided by graphics and icons that created the look and feel of working on a desktop. Moreover, when software

Macintosh, Windows, and the "GUI" Operating Systems: Macintosh, Windows, and the GUI Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple computer, realized the how much of an obstacle the difficult command-line interface posed to the development of a truly "personal" computer rather than a computer for computer specialists. Apple had had enormous success with its Apple II, which debuted in 1977; however, they were losing market share to the IBM PC, which debuted in 1981. Like the DOS-driven PC, the Apple II's operating system had a command-line interface. While touring Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center

Explore this link on the map →

related reading