A Graphical User Interface (GUI for short) allows users to interact with the computer hardware in a user friendly way.
Over the years a range of GUI’s have been developed for different operating systems such as OS/2, Macintosh, Windowsamiga, Linux, Symbian OS, and more.
We’ll be taking a look at the evolution of the interface designs of the major operating systems since the 80’s.
I should mention that this article showcases only the significant advances in GUI design (not operating system advances) and also not all of the graphical user interfaces and operating systems existing today.
The first GUI was developed by researchers at in the ’70s. This research opened a whole new era of computer graphic innovations.
The first personal computer which used a modern graphical user interface was the , developed in 1973. This was not a commercial product and was intended mainly for research at universities.
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1981-1985
Xerox 8010 Star (released in 1981)
This was the first system that was referred to as a fully integrated desktop computer including applications and a GUI. It was known as “The Xerox Star”, later renamed “ViewPoint” and later again renamed to “GlobalView”.
Xerox 8010 Star, Source:
Apple Lisa Office System 1 (released in 1983)
Also referred to as Lisa OS, which in this case is short for Office System. It was developed by Apple with the intention of being a document processing workstation.
Unfortunately this workstation didn’t last, it was killed by Apple’s Macintosh operating system that was more affordable.
There were upgrades to Lisa OS, Lisa OS 2 in 1983 and Lisa OS 7/7 3.1 in 1984, that upgraded the system itself, but not the graphical user interface.
Apple Lisa OS 1, Source:
Apple Lisa OS 1, Source:
VisiCorp Visi On (released in 1984)
Visi On was the first desktop GUI developed for the IBM PC. This system was targeted towards big corporations and came with a high price tag. The GUI made use of a mouse, it had a built-in installer and help system and it didn’t use icons.
VisiCoprt Visi On, Source:
VisiCoprt Visi On, Source:
Mac OS System 1.0 (released in 1984)
System 1.0 was the first operating system GUI developed for the Macintosh. It had several features of a modern operating system, being windows based with icons. The windows could be moved around with the mouse and files and folders could be copied by dragging and dropping onto the target location.
Apple Mac System 1.0, Source:
Amiga Workbench 1.0 (released in 1985)
When first released, Amiga was ahead of its time. The GUI included features such as color graphics (four colors: black, white, blue, orange), preemptive multitasking, stereo sound and multi-state icons (selected and unselected).
Amiga Workbench 1.0, Source:
Amiga Workbench 1.0, Source:
Windows 1.0x (released in 1985)
In this year Microsoft finally caught up with the whole graphical user interface craze and released Windows 1.0, its first GUI based operating system (although no one would dare to refer to it as one). The system featured 32×32 pixel icons and color graphics. The most interesting feature (which later was omitted) was the icon of the animated analog clock.
Microsoft Windows 1.01, Source:
Microsoft Windows 1.01, Source:
GEM (released in 1985)
GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) was a windowing style GUI created by Digital Research, Inc. (DRI). It was initially created for use with the CP/M operating system on the Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microprocessors and was later developed to run on DOS as well. Most people will remember GEM as the GUI for the Atari ST computers. It was also used on a series Amstrad’s IBM compatible computers. It was the core for Ventura Publisher and a few other DOS programs. The GUI was also ported to other computers but did not gain popularity on them.
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