Jonathan Gladden Research Paper Art894x12 History of Computer Graphics Instructor: Wayne Carlson, Autumn Quarter 2000
Coyote GUI: Copierheads give birth to the graphical user interface: Xerox PARC and the development of the modern desktop operating system.
Research Paper: Xerox PARC and the GUI
page 1 - Introduction to GUI
page 2 - Gallery of GUI: pictures from the report I
page 3 - Gallery of GUI: pictures from the report II
page 4 - Gallery of GUI: pictures from the report III
page 5 - Gallery of GUI: pictures from the report IV
page 6 - Gallery of GUI: pictures from the report V
page 7 - Gallery of GUI: pictures from the report VI
Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) moved into their permanent headquarters at 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, California in 1975
Introduction to the Graphical User Interface:
Some may ask, what is a GUI? What are it's characteristics? A GUI is a Graphical User Interface, usually part of a computer's operating system which is characterized by WIMPs and WYSIWYG. WIMPs are Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing devices (such as a mouse or a trackball). WYSIWYG or What You See is What You Get, refers to the ability to print out exactly what you see on the screen, this made effective desktop publishing possible. The GUI is based on the principle that pointing in menus to a command you want to computer to do is easier than having to remember hundreds of key words like in command line operating systems such as MS DOS or Unix. The GUI is based on the idea that pointing to something is the most basic human gesture, and the mouse is easier to use than a keyboard. In a graphic user interface a user points at windows, icons, and menus by means of a mouse on a metaphorical 'desktop' environment which relates to the user's known physical office environment. The graphical desktop is a metaphor of an office desk, which files and folders on top of it, making it easier for new users to visualize how the computer works.
The Birth of GUI:
In 1975 the researchers at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) moved into their permanent headquarters at 3333 Coyote Hill Road near Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Jacob Goldman had founded PARC just five years previous, and already at this early date the research team had developed many of the ideas that shaped the future of computing.The Palo Alto Research Center's mission as directed by Xerox management was to create the office of the future.To that end they created many of the technologies we take for granted in the modern office,such as networked personal computers,with E-Mail, word processing, and laser printing, but most significant innovation at PARC was the graphical user interface (GUI), the desktop metaphor that is so prevalent in modern operating systems today.
" GUIs are just a fad,when their novelty wares off, users will soon return to true command-line interfaces like DOS " , Jon Gladden 1986.
Links and GUI Resources:
parc history http://www.parc.xerox.com/history.html
Encyclopaedia Britannica: graphical user interface (GUI) http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=117673&sctn=2#s_top
The Graphical User Interface http://www.apple-history.com/horn1.html
CGI Family Tree Main Page http://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/~waynec/history/tree/overall-list.html
The Story Behind the Lisa (and Macintosh) Interface http://home.san.rr.com/deans/lisagui.html
1972: Xerox Parc and the Alto http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9907/08/1972.idg/
[ Research Paper: Xerox PARC and the GUI ]