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08/20/2001 Archived Entry: "20-August-2001 -- The Real History of the GUI"

The Real History of the GUI -- "This article tells how the GUI came about. It starts with the (possibly apocryphal) story of how Cro-Magnon Glug accidentally developed the GUI to appease his fellow cavemen's needs for understanding through visual metaphors. It then takes us through the better-documented days of Xerox's PARC lab, Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad, Alan Kay's SmallTalk, and the (possibly even more apocryphal) stories of the rivalry between Steve Jobs' Apple and Bill Gates' Microsoft that gave us the Windows and Mac GUI-driven OS's of today. Along the way we'll learn about the memex, the first wooden mouse, "bit-blitting," the Xerox Star, the Apple Lisa, and what really happened that momentous day in the PARC labs when Jobs and company paid a visit, notepads in hand..." (Comments: Long article. You might want to print it out to read on the bus or on the plane.)

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