The Real History of The GUI

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The Real History of The GUI

• Introduced By
• Lior Ur
• Efrat Carmi

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What is GUI?

• Many of us may think of
• gooey

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GUI - Graphical User Interface

• An interface for issuing commands to a computer
  utilizing a pointing device, such as a mouse,
  that manipulates and activates graphical images
  on a monitor.

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Why do we need GUI?

• The idea of GUI derives from cognitive psychology
  the study of how the brain deals with
  communication
• Our brain works more efficiently with graphical
  icons displays than with words

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Why do we need GUI?

• For example

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GUI history The Mythology

• December 1979
• The Apple team, Steve Jobs and his friends, enter
  Xeroxs Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) labs
• They tour the place with childh like admiration
  while memorizing schematics and taking notes

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GUI history The Mythology

• Jobs and cohort Steve Wozniak go back to their
  garage and stuff every idea and process they can
  remember from the Xerox tour into their new
  product
• The Macintosh!!!

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GUI history The Mythology

• Apple amazes the world with the GUI thing, and
  everyone wants to get their own computer
• Xerox is confused and Microsofts Bill Gates is
  enraged!

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GUI history The Mythology

• Gates takes Jobs thievery one step further and
  brings out Apple-clone, Windows.
• Microsoft succeeds to dodge an Apple lawsuit, And
  so Apple falls behind.
• And

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GUI history The Mythology

• Windows takes over the world

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GUI history The Mythology

• Well not exactly
• The true story is quite different

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The real history of GUI

• Chapter 1

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The real history of GUI

• 1940-1975 The early years
• The best way to predict the future is to invent
  it
• Alan Kay and an informal PARC slogan

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• 1945 Bush invents the memex
• Vannevar Bush, a visionary scientist, invents the
  memex
• Acts as an external memory
• Would make use hyperlink technology (items
  retrieved rapidly through indexing, keywords,
  cross references)
• Reflected the idea of hypertext (where documents
  are linked to related documents)
• Was never constructed

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)
MEMEX
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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• 1962 The first mouse
• Douglas Engelbart, a scientist at Stanford
  Research Laboratory (now SRI), invented the first
  mouse, a wooden box on wheels that moves around
  the desktop, and takes the cursor with it on the
  display.

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• He called it
• x-y position indicator

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• First graphical video game -
• Space War (1962)
• MIT project
• Including the first computer joystick

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• 1963 - The sketchpad
• Ivan Sutherland, a grad student at MIT, submits
  as his thesis a program named sketchpad, that
  supported manipulation of objects on screen using
  a light pen, including
• Grabbing objects
• Moving objects
• Changing size

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)
Sutherland and his sketchpad
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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)
1968 - Engelbart creates NLS (oNLine System)

• A hypermedia groupware system that featured
• Use of mouse for graphics
• Multiple tiled windows
• Object addressing
• Extensive use of linking
• Videoconferencing
• E-mail

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)
The place GUI was born PARC - Palo Alto Research
Center

• a computing think tank, where brilliant minds
  crank out ideas and implement them

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Main ideas that came from PARC
• Development of icons
• Extension of desktop metaphor into office
  metaphor collection of data will be known as
  files, that can be organized into folders
• Implementation of object concept
• Cursor changes to show system mode and context
• Overlapped and tiled windows

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Main ideas that came from PARC cont.
• Popup menus
• Scroll bar
• Push buttons
• Check boxes
• Dialog boxes
• Multiple fonts style in text
• Move / copy / delete

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Early 70s at PARC
• Failing project called Dynabook
• hand held, notebook-sized device (early
  laptop), where a person can touch the screen to
  access information
• Alan Kay and others (from PARC) developed the
  Smalltalk programming language, with influences
  from Logo Lisp and the Sketchpad

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Smalltalk features
• Object orientation
• A multi platform virtual machine
• GUI features
• Overlapping windows
• Hierarchical menus
• Bit-blt or bit-blitting - The protocol by
  which objects on the screen can be manipulated
• Model-View-Controller

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Pygmalion
• The first program to be written under Smalltalk
• Demonstrating that computer programming can be
  graphically based and not restricted to text
• Attempts to provide the programmer visual and
  intuitive programming
• Coined the term icons

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)
traditional mainframe
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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Xeroxs Alto computer (1974)
• First useable GUI
• A smaller, portable replacement of mainframes
• Started its life showing an image of Sesame
  Streets Cookie Monster
• Was not marketed

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Alto computer - cont.
• Extensive use of the mouse
• Pioneered the bitmapped display
• Featured graphical driven apps.
• Iconic representations for programs
• Popup menus

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• Altos Software
• Word processor -Gypsy
• The ability to cut/copy/paste with a mouse
• Text editor - Bravo
• Supported multiple fonts style in text
• First drawing program - Markup
• First Painting program - Superpaint
• WYSIWYG through bitmapping for Gypsy and
  Bravo

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)

• WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get
• Pronounced "wizzy-wig.
• Refers to displaying text and graphics on screen,
  the same as they will print.
• To have WYSIWYG text, there must be an equivalent
  screen font for each printer font used

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The real history of GUI (1940-1975)
WYSIWYG
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The real history of GUI

• Chapter 2

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The real history of GUI

• 1975-1985 The origins of pc
• There is no reason why anyone would want a
  computer in their home
• Kan Olson, President, Chairman founder of
  Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• So we went to Atari and said hey, weve got
  this amazing thing, even built with some of your
  parts, and what do you think about funding us?
  and they said No.
• So then we went to Hewlett-Packard,

and they said, Hey, we dont need you. You
havent got through college yet . Apple
founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and
HP interested in his and Steve Wozniaks personal
computer
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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• The beginning of Apple
• Jobs and Wozniak met at HP. Their careers
  begun by building (Wozniak) and selling (Jobs)
  blue boxes illegal devices that
  scammed free phone calls from Ma Bell

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• The beginning of Apple
• Jobs envisioned building personal desktop-size
  computers for the masses
• 3/76 Wozniak builds the first Apple
• Apple ? - a wooden boxed machine with LED display

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• The beginning of Apple
• 1976 Apple is founded in Jobs garage
• About 200 units of Apple ?s are sold
• The team uses the money from Apple ?s sales to
  start the work on the Apple ??

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)
Apple II
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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Apple ?? (1977)
• Featuring
• Color graphics
• Video display
• Inboard floppy disk
• Game paddles
• First spreadsheet VisiCalc

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Followed by Apple ???
• (which was unsuccessful)

Apple III
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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• 1979 Apples visit to PARC
• Apple negotiated a deal with Xerox
• 12/79 - Xerox allows Jobs and team to tour the
  place, take notes and make use of the ideas in
  their own creations

• In exchange, Xerox got a block of Apple shares
• The Apple team returned and started to work on
  Apple Lisa

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• First computer desktop Xerox Star (1981)
• First true GUI driven PC featured
• Concept of desktop metaphor
• Overlapping resizable windows
• Extensive usage of icons
• Sophisticated PARC mouse, that used laser
  beams
• Stars interface known as WIMP (Windows, Icons,
  Menus Pointers)

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• The Lisa user will be able to carry out many
  functions, simply by pointing to a picture of
  what he wants done, rather than typing
  instructions.
• Time Magazine, 1983

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Apple Lisa (1983)
• Lisa Local Integrated Software Architecture
• Development started at 1979, after the trip to
  PARC
• First of a new GUI-based PC family
• developed for business use
• Eventually failed because of the high cost and
  lack of software

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Apple Lisa
• Lisa featured
• Click-and-drag capability
• Pull-down menu
• 7\7 integrated software including word
  processor, spreadsheet, drawing program, chart
  builder and more
• Desktop manager taken from PARC (the original
  plan didnt have any icons)
• Smalltalk influence

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)
Apple LISA - Desktop and 7/7
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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)
Apple LISA
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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• After Lisa
• Apple worked with psychologists, artists and
  ordinary users to improve Lisas interface

• Also provided California
• schools with free LISAs in order to enhance
  software and GUI

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Macintosh (Mac) 1984
• Apple wanted to produce a computer with GUI that
  would be smaller and cheaper than LISA
• First popular PC to feature GUI
• Cost 2500 (compared to the 10,000 of Lisa)

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Mac Toolbox (for Mac)
• Developed by Apple after Lisas failure
• Allowed third-party companies to produce software
  for the Mac
• Contained example programs and Mac interface
  guidelines so software would be written in
  similar style to house software

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Macintosh (Mac) cont.
• The Mac came with
• MacPaint art design to the average user
• Had the ability to drag and select shapes
• MacWrite a simple word processor that was the
  first WYSIWYG product in the market
• 1984 Super Bowl commercial

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• The future lies with graphical windowing
  interface. Mouse cursor control, pull-down menus,
  dialog boxes, and the like are destined to take
  over the IBM PC and compatible world as well.
• W.F Zachmann, 1987

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Microsoft joins the game
• 640K ought to be enough for anybody
• Bill Gates, 1981

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• The beginning of Microsoft
• 1974 Bill Gates and Paul Allen start up
  Microsoft
• 1975 producing BASIC 1.0 interpreter for the
  MITS Altair, first programming language written
  specifically for a PC
• 1975 BASIC 2.0 for new versions of Altair

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• 1977 - Microsoft and Apple team up
• Microsoft writes Apple BASIC for Apple. their
  fee 21,000
• Apple sells over a million computers with Apple
  BASIC

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The real history of GUI (1975-1985)

• Early 80s
• 1980 Microsoft buys DOS from Seattle Computer
  Products
• 1981 Jobs visits Microsoft, and invites them to
  develop apps. for Apples new GUI-based system -
  the Mac

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The real history of GUI

• Chapter 3

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The real history of GUI

• GUI wars
• No Steve, I think its more like we both have a
  rich neighbor named Xerox, and you broke in to
  steal the TV set, and you found out Id been
  there first, and you said, Hey, thats not
  fair!, I wanted to steal the TV set!
• Bill Gates

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• 1985 computer market
• Many platforms debuted in the early 80s (visiOn,
  Gem and others)
• The only one with significant influence was
  Commodores Amiga

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• Commodores Amiga (1985)
• Amiga developed a GUI called Intuition, where
  directories were shown as filing cabinet drawers
• It also featured
• Advanced sound and video capabilities
• Sophisticated GUI-driven OS
• Multitasking
• Shared libraries
• Right click

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• Windows 1.0 (1985)
• 11/83 Microsoft announcing that it is working
  on its own GUI-based OS, to be known as Windows
• Gates tries to interest IBM in Windows, with no
  success
• Apple-like drop-down menus, tiled windows and
  mouse support

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• The Apple-Microsoft agreement
• In an ingenious move, when the two companies
  began their cooperation on the Mac, Microsoft
  signed a licensing agreement with Apple that
  stated
• MS would not employ Apple technology In win 1.0
• No agreement was made for further versions of
  windows
• Apple realized that the contract they signed with
  Microsoft only prevents them from using features
  of the Mac in win1.0

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• Windows 2.0 (1987)
• Looks like Mac more than ever
• Featuring
• Icons to represent
• files, folders
  and
  programs
• Cascading overlapping
  windows
• Apples lawsuit vs. MS, claiming that Windows
  stole the Macs look and feel
• Win 2.0 fails as well

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• The big GUI lawsuit
• Apple sues MS for stealing the Macs look and
  feel
• Apple Windows had illegally copied the Mac GUI
• Microsoft Both systems borrowed liberally
  from the original Xerox concepts
• In fact, Windows interface design looked more
  like the old Alto GUI than the Mac design
• Microsoft won in 1993

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The real history of GUI (GUI wars)

• Mutual agreement to end the GUI dispute
• 1997 Jobs announced a formal partnership with
  MS
• Microsoft buys 150 million of Apple shares

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The real history of GUI

• Chapter 4

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The real history of GUI

• 1990 and on The Windows Era
• I think Windows 3.0 will get a lot of attention
  people will check it out, and before long they
  will all drift back to raw DOS. Once in a while
  theyll boot Windows for some specific purpose,
  but many will put it in the closet with the
  commodore 64.
• John Dvorak, 1990

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Windows 3.0 (1990)
• Launched with
• Dozens of Windows compatible applications
• sculpted buttons
  made by an icon designer
• Win-compatible versions
  of Word and Excel
• Support for sixteen colors
• Improved speed
  and reliability
• Selling over 3 million
  copies in the first year

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Windows 3.1 (1992)
• TrueType font support
• Enhanced multimedia
• Outselling Mac for the
  first time
• Followed by -
• Windows 3.1.1
• Called Windows for workgroups
• A version for enterprises
• added no new features

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Win NT (1993)
• Started as a Microsoft-IBM cooperation
• New stable kernel
• Was more useful for business usage, but not
  marketed as such
• Many users converted from Unix to NT
• Had no backward DOS compatibility (problem for
  the gamers)

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• IBMs OS/2 warp (1994)
• Originally a Microsoft/IBM joint venture
• IBMs Warp featured
  a windows like GUI
• Failed to compete
  with Windows

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Microsoft Bob (1995)
• Bob software program that Microsoft released
  , designed to replace the desktop of Win 3.1 and
  95
• Interface designed to simplify use
• Despite of the big advertising campaign it failed
  due to
• PCs of the day didnt meet the minimum
  requirements
• Not useful enough to justify its cost
• Was too cute for the average PC user
• People who wanted ease of use got a Macintosh
• Win 95 was about to be released and take all
  attention

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)
Microsoft Bob
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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Windows 95 (1995)
• First MS GUI integrated OS
• Very user-friendly
• Had the new Windows Explorer interface
• Win NT 4.0 boosts NT popularity with
  integrated Win 95 GUI

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Apples products
• Apple tries to redeem itself with
• Mac OS 8 Platinum a popular and stable OS
• OS9 (1999) an upgrade to the Platinum system
• iMac (1998)
• comes with either OS 9 or OS X installed
• Great color scheme
• User-friendly design
• None of which seem to makes the difference

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The real history of GUI (1990 and on)

• Microsofts products
• 1998 - Microsoft launches the Win98, an upgrade
  for 95 with
• "Internet Explorer 4" built in
• Active Desktop allowing to setup a desktop as a
  personal web page
• Followed by Windows Millennium, minor upgrade
  for 98
• Windows 2000 or Win 2K Last iteration of the
  NT line
• 2002 Windows XP, uniting the Win9X and NT
  series

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The real history of GUI

• The GUI today
• No significant changes were made since Lisa,
  desktop became only faster, smoother and nicer
• Latest UI innovations
• Touch screens (usually for business use)
• voice recognition
• Retinal and fingerprint scans for security
• Holographic representations
• Some of which exist but too expensive for common
  use
• New attempts win3d (cont of Bob)

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The End!
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The real history of GUI About the writer -
Mike Tuck An educator, freelance writer, and
self-taught PC user. Expert in Microsoft product
optimization and usage. Written 5 articles for
SitePoint. His hobbies include basketball,
politics and spoiling his cats.
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The real history of GUI

• Article critique
• Good
• Written in a friendly manner (language and
  structure)
• Has an objective view
• Gives good overview
• Bad
• Missing specific information about various GUI
  features
• Tends to drift away from the main topic
• Missing future prospect of GUI

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Discussion - The future of the GUI

• What are Apple, MS and others planning ?
• Do you think the mouse\keyboard will be replaced,
  by what ?
• How will VR come in to play ?
• How can GUI become more intuitive ?

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Discussion - The future of the GUI