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DIGN

OPERATING SYSTEM INTERFACE DESIGN

BETWEEN 1981-2009
Y WDD TAFF | MAR. 11, 2009
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A Graphical Uer Interface (GUI for hort) allow uer to interact with the computer hardware in a uer
friendl wa.

Over the ear a range of GUI’ have een developed for di�erent operating tem uch a O/2, Macintoh, Windowamiga,
Linux, mian O, and more.

We’ll e taking a look at the evolution of the interface deign of the major operating tem ince the 80’.

I hould mention that thi article howcae onl the ignificant advance in GUI deign (not operating tem advance) and alo
not all of the graphical uer interface and operating tem exiting toda.

The firt GUI wa developed  reearcher at Xerox Palo Alto Reearch Center (PARC) in the ’70. Thi reearch opened a whole
new era of computer graphic innovation.

The firt peronal computer which ued a modern graphical uer interface wa the Xerox Alto, developed in 1973. Thi wa not a
commercial product and wa intended mainl for reearch at univeritie.
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1981-1985

Xerox 8010 Star (released in 1981)

Thi wa the firt tem that wa referred to a a full integrated dektop computer including application and a GUI. It wa
known a “The Xerox tar”, later renamed “ViewPoint” and later again renamed to “GloalView”.

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Xerox 8010 tar, ource: toattech.com

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Apple Lisa O�ce System 1 (released in 1983)

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Alo referred to a Lia O, which in thi cae i hort for O�ice tem. It wa developed  Apple with the intention of eing a
document proceing worktation.

Unfortunatel thi worktation didn’t lat, it wa killed  Apple’ Macintoh operating tem that wa more a�ordale.

There were upgrade to Lia O, Lia O 2 in 1983 and Lia O 7/7 3.1 in 1984, that upgraded the tem itelf, ut not the
graphical uer interface.

Apple Lia O 1, ource: GUIdeook

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Apple Lia O 1, ource: GUIdeook

VisiCorp Visi On (released in 1984)

Vii On wa the firt dektop GUI developed for the IM PC. Thi tem wa targeted toward ig corporation and came with a
high price tag. The GUI made ue of a moue, it had a uilt-in intaller and help tem and it didn’t ue icon.

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ViiCoprt Vii On, ource: toattech.com

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ViiCoprt Vii On, ource: toattech.com

Mac OS System 1.0 (released in 1984)

tem 1.0 wa the firt operating tem GUI developed for the Macintoh. It had everal feature of a modern operating tem,
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eing window aed with icon. The window could e moved around with the moue and file and folder could e copied 
dragging and dropping onto the target location.

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Apple Mac tem 1.0, ource: toattech.com

Amiga Workbench 1.0 (released in 1985)

When firt releaed, Amiga wa ahead of it time. The GUI included feature uch a color graphic (four color: lack, white, lue,
orange), preemptive multitaking, tereo ound and multi-tate icon (elected and unelected).
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Amiga Workench 1.0, ource: GUIdeook

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Amiga Workench 1.0, ource: GUIdeook

Windows 1.0x (released in 1985)

In thi ear Microoft finall caught up with the whole graphical uer interface craze and releaed Window 1.0, it firt GUI aed
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operating tem (although no one would dare to refer to it a one). The tem featured 32×32 pixel icon and color graphic.
The mot intereting feature (which later wa omitted) wa the icon of the animated analog clock.

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Microoft Window 1.01, ource: makowki-erlin.de

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Microoft Window 1.01, ource: makowki-erlin.de

GEM (released in 1985)

GM (Graphical nvironment Manager) wa a windowing tle GUI created  Digital Reearch, Inc. (DRI). It wa initiall created
for ue with the CP/M operating tem on the Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microproceor and wa later developed to run on
DO a Adwell. Mot people will rememer GM a the GUI for the Atari T computer. It wa alo ued on a erie Amtrad’ IM
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compatile computer. It wa the core for Ventura Puliher and a few other DO program. The GUI wa alo ported to other
computer ut did not gain popularit on them.

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ource: Wikipedia

1986 – 1990

IRIX 3 (released in 1986, �rst release 1984)

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The 64-it IRIX operating tem wa created for UNIX. An intereting feature of thi GUI i the upport for vector icon. Thi

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feature wa uilt into the GUI long efore Mac O X even exited.

ilicon Graphic IRIX 3.0, ource: onew.com

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GEOS (released in 1986)

The GO (Graphic nvironment Operating tem) operating tem wa developed  erkele oftwork (later GeoWork). It
wa originall deigned for the Commodore 64 and included a graphical word proceor, called geoWrite and a paint program
called geoPaint.

ource: Wikipedia
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Windows 2.0x (released in 1987)

In thi verion, the actual management of the window had ignificantl improved. The window could e overlapped, reized,
maximized and minimized.

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Microoft Window 2.03, ource: guideookgaller.org

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Microoft Window 2.03, ource: guideookgaller.org

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OS/2 1.x (released in 1988)

O/2 wa originall co-developed  IM and Microoft, ut in 1991 the two companie plit up, with Microoft incorporating the
technolog in it own Window GUI and IM developing O/2 further. The GUI ued in O/2 wa called “Preentation Manager”.
Thi verion of the GUI onl upported monochrome, fixed icon.

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Microoft-IM O/2 1.1, ource: page.prodig.net

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Microoft-IM O/2 1.1, ource: page.prodig.net

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NeXTSTEP / OPENSTEP 1.0 (released in 1989)

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teve Jo came up with the idea to create the perfect reearch computer for univeritie and reearch la. Thi idea later
evolved into a tartup called NeXT Computer Inc.

The firt NeXT computer wa releaed in 1988, however ignificant advance were made in 1989 with the releae of the NeXTTP
1.0 GUI, which later evolved into OPNTP.

The GUI’ icon were igger (48×48) and it introduced more color. The GUI wa initiall monochrome, ut verion 1.0 tarted
upporting color monitor too. Thi creenhot give ou have a peek into what would ecome the modern GUI.

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NeXTTP 1.0, ource: kernelthread.com

OS/2 1.20 (released in 1989)

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The next minor verion upgrade of the GUI howed light improvement in man area. The icon looked nicer and the window

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were moother.

O/2 1.2, ource page.prodig.net

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Windows 3.0 (released in 1990)

 thi verion, Microoft had realized the real potential in GUI’ and tarted to ignificantl improve them.

The operating tem itelf upported tandard and 386 enhanced mode, which made ue of higher memor capacit than 640
K and hard dik pace, reulting in the ailit to ue higher creen reolution and etter graphic, uch a uper VGA 800×600
and 1024×768.

Alo, Microoft hired uan Kare to deign the Window 3.0 icon and to add a unified tle to the GUI.

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Microoft Window 3.0, ource: toattech.com

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Microoft Window 3.0, ource: toattech.com

1991 – 1995
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Amiga Workbench 2.04 (released in 1991)

Man improvement were made to thi verion of the GUI. The color cheme changed and a 3D look wa introduced. The dektop
could e divided verticall into creen of di�erent reolution and color depth, which nowada eem a little odd. The default
reolution of Workench wa 640×256, ut the hardware upported larger reolution too.

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Commodore Amiga Workench 2.04, ource: guideookgaller.org

Mac OS System 7 (released in 1991)

Mac O verion 7.0 wa the firt Mac O GUI which upported color. utle hade of gre, lue and ellow were added to icon.

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Apple Mac O tem 7.0, ource: guideookgaller.org

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Apple Mac O tem 7.0, ource: guideookgaller.org

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Windows 3.1 (released in 1992)

Thi verion of Window included TrueTpe font which were pre-intalled. Thi e�ectivel made Window a functional dektop
pulihing platform for the firt time.

Previoul, it wa onl poile to achieve uch functionalit in Window 3.0 uing the Adoe Tpe Manager (ATM) font tem
from Adoe. Thi verion alo contained a color cheme named Hotdog tand, which contained right hue of red, ellow and
lack.

Thi color cheme wa deigned to help people with ome degree of color lindne ee text/graphic on the creen eaier.

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ource: Wikipedia

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OS/2 2.0 (released in 1992)

Thi wa the firt GUI that wa ujected to international acceptance, uailit and acceiilit teting. The entire GUI wa

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developed uing oject-oriented deign. ver file and folder wa an oject which could e aociated with other file, folder and
application. It alo upported drag and drop functionalit and template.

IM O/2 2.0, ource: toattech.com

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IM O/2 2.0, ource: toattech.com

Windows 95 (released in 1995)

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The uer interface wa completel re-deigned ince verion 3.x. Thi wa the firt Window verion where a mall cloe utton

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wa added to each window.

The deign team gave tate (enaled, dialed, elected, checked, etc.) to icon and other graphic. The famou tart utton
appeared for the firt time.

Thi wa a huge tep forward for Microoft regarding the operating tem itelf and the unified GUI.

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Microoft Window 95, ource: guideookgaller.org

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Microoft Window 95, ource: guideookgaller.org

1996 – 2000
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OS/2 Warp 4 (released in 1996)

IM releaed O/2 Warp 4 which rought a ignificant facelift to the workpace.

Icon were placed on the dektop, where cutom file and folder could alo e created. The hredder appeared which wa imilar
to Window’ Reccle in or Mac O’ Trah, except it deleted the file or folder intantl and didn’t tore an additional copie for
later retrieval.

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IM O/2 Warp 4, ource: toattech.com

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IM O/2 Warp 4, ource: toattech.com

Mac OS System 8 (released in 1997)

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256 color icon were the default in thi verion of the GUI. Mac O 8 wa one of the earl adopter of iometric tle icon, alo

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called peudo-3D icon. The platinum gre theme ued here ecame a trademark for future verion of the GUI.

Apple Mac O 8, ource: guideookgaller.org

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Windows 98 (released in 1998)

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The icon tle were almot the ame a in Window 95, ut the whole GUI could ue more than 256 color for rendering.
Window xplorer changed almot completel and the “Active Dektop” appeared for the firt time.

Microoft
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Window 98, ource: toattech.com

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KDE 1.0 (released in 1998)

Thi i how the KD team decried the project upon releaing verion 1.0: “KD i a network tranparent, contemporar dektop
environment for UNIX worktation. KD eek to fill the need for an ea to ue dektop for Unix worktation, imilar to the
dektop environment found under the MacO or Window95/NT. A completel free and open computing platform availale to
anone free of charge including it ource code for anone to modif.”

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ource: Wikipedia

BeOs 4.5 (released in 1999)

The eO operating tem wa developed for peronal computer. It wa originall written  e In in 1991 to run on eox
hardware. It wa later further developed to take advantage of newer technologie and hardware uch a mmetric
multiproceing  utilizing modular I/O andwidth, pervaive multithreading, preemptive multitaking and a cutom 64-it
journaling file tem known a F. The eO GUI wa developed on the principle of clarit and a clean, uncluttered deign.

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ource: Wikipedia

GNOME 1.0 (released in 1999)

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GNOM dektop wa mainl developed for Red Hat Linux, later it wa developed for other Linux ditriutor a well.

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Red Hat Linux GNOM 1.0.39, ource: viionfutur.com

2001 – 2005
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Mac OS X (released in 2001)

In earl 2000 Apple announced their new Aqua interface and in 2001 the compan releaed it with their rand new operating
tem called Mac O X.

The default 32 x 32 and 48 x 48 icon were changed to ig 128 x 128 anti-aliaed and emi-tranparent icon.

Lot of criticim followed after the releae of thi GUI. Apparentl uer were not quite read for uch a ig change, ut oon
enough the adopted the new tle and toda thi GUI repreent the ai of all Mac O X operating tem.

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