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Articles from the 1980s:

Lisa Office System“Lisa user interface standards”, 1980
    Apple Lisa guidelines, describing a very different user work-in-progress interface from three years prior to the release
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“Xerox xooms toward the office of the future” by Bro Uttal, from Fortune 1981
    An article about Xerox Star and changes in Xerox’s Office Products Division
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“The Xerox Alto computer” by Thomas A Wadlow, from Byte 1981
    Description of the Xerox Alto, the first computer with GUI and mouse as input device (with screenshots)
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“The Star user interface: an overview” by David Canfield Smith, Charles Irby, Ralph Kimball and Eric Harslem, from proceedings of AFIPS 1982
    An illustrated description of the Xerox 8010 “Star” interface
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“A retrospective on the development of Star” by Eric Harslem and LeRoy E. Nelson, from from proceedings of ICSE 1982
    A rather technical look at Xerox Star – not much of GUI-related information, but helpful in putting the development of 8010 into context
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“Designing the Star User Interface” by Dr. David Canfield Smith, Charles Irby, Ralph Kimball, Bill Verplank and Eric Harslem, from Byte 1982
    Extensive breakdown of rules and ideas behind Xerox Star interface (with screenshots)
Lisa Office System“Lisa user interface guidelines”, 1983
    Fragments of Apple Lisa GUI guidelines
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“Human factors testing in the design of Xerox’s 8010 ‘Star’ office workstation” by William L. Bewley, Teresa L. Roberts, David Schroit and William L. Verplank, from CHI ‘83 Conference Proceedings
    A description of various user tests conducted while developing the Xerox Star user interface
Lisa Office System“Apple’s Lisa: A personal office system” by Joseph L. Ehardt, from Seybold Publications 1983
    An exhaustive 26-page report on Apple Lisa
Lisa Office System“Apple’s new computers: A major breakthrough” by , from Personal Computing 1983
    A short description of the new Apple Lisa
Lisa Office System“Lisa’s debut” by , from Softalk 1983
    A short preview of Apple Lisa
Visi On“A visual counterpart of the top of your desk” by , from Personal Computing 1983
    Short review of VisiOn
Lisa Office System“An interview with Wayne Rosing, Bruce Daniels, and Larry Tesler” by Chris Morgan, Gregg Williams and Phil Lemmons, from Byte 1983
    An interview with three leading developers of Apple Lisa
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalViewVisi OnMac OSLisa Office System“Apple’s bid to stay in the big time” by Peter Nulty, from Fortune 1983
    Review of Apple Lisa from business point of view
Lisa Office System“The Lisa Computer System” by Gregg Williams, from Byte 1983
    An extensive review of Apple Lisa
Lisa Office System“The birth of Lisa” by Michael Rogers, from Personal Computing 1983
    An interview with Apple Lisa development team
Lisa Office System“A new generation arrives” by Jeffrey Rothfeder, from Personal Computing 1983
    An essay on a new “era of easy computing,” exemplified by Apple Lisa
Lisa Office System“Apple’s Lisa” by Mike Whitney, from Personal Computer News 1983
    A short review of Apple Lisa
Lisa Office System“Foxy little Lisa” by Luana Hellmann Hill, from Fortune 1983
    One reader’s response to Fortune’s article on Apple Lisa
Lisa Office System“New from Apple: Lisa and the IIe” by George Stewart, Rachael Wrege and Phil Lopiccola, from Personal Computing 1983
    A 3-part article on Lisa, its design and its mouse
Lisa Office SystemVisi On“VisiCorp’s VisiOn” by Phil Lopiccola and Rachael Wrege, from Popular Computing 1983
    A review of VisiOn, with some comparisons to Apple Lisa
Lisa Office SystemVisi On“The new generation of human-engineered software” by Gregg Williams, from Byte 1983
    A little piece on the emergence of desktop metaphor
Visi On“A guided tour of Visi On” by Phil Lemmons, from Byte 1983
    An interview with William T. Coleman’s, product manager responsible for Visi On. Contains sample screenshots
Visi On“Visi On’s Interface Design” by George Woodmansee, from Byte 1983
    An article describing the methods and concepts used during creation of Visi On
Lisa Office System“Lisa’s alternative operating system” by Bruce Daniels, from Computer Design 1983
    A rather technical look at Lisa’s operating system
Lisa Office System“Accounting for Lisa and the future” by David Hunter, from Softalk 1983
    A portrait of Exec BPI System, a company using Apple Lisa for its accounting
Lisa Office System“Lisa – Close up and personal” by Roger Wagner and Joe Holt, from Softalk 1983
    A profusely-illustrated review of Apple Lisa
Visi On“Backtalk” by Tommy Gear, from Softalk 1983
    A very strange, almost advertising-like column on the virtues of VisiCorp and VisiOn
Lisa Office System“How Apple presents Lisa” by David Durkee, from Softalk 1983
    Article on the ways Apple is tutoring Lisa users
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“The lab that ran away from Xerox” by Bro Uttal, from Fortune 1983
    Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, people behind it, and transformation of Alto into the Star
Windows“Microsoft Windows” by Phil Lemmons, from Byte 1983
    Exclusive: An extensive look at a pre-1.0 release of Microsoft Windows, with many screenshots. Also featured is author’s commentary 21 years later!
Lisa Office System“Fortune Product of the Year Award” by Rosalind Klein, from Fortune 1983
    A short blurb on Lisa receiving an award for its user-friendliness
Lisa Office System“The integrated software and user interface of Apple’s Lisa” by Edward W. Birss, from proceedings of the AFIPS 1984 National Computer Conference
    Description of basic rules governing the Lisa GUI
Windows“Microsoft does Windows” by Steven Cook, from PC World 1984
    Another look at prerelease of Microsoft Windows, and explanation of GUI basics
Mac OS“A tour of the Mac desktop” by Lon Poole, from Macworld 1984
    An overview of Macintosh’s GUI
Visi On“The Visi On™ experience – From concept to marketplace” by George Woodmansee, from Proceedings of INTERACT ’84
    Similar paper from a Human-Computer Interaction conference, outlining Visi On’s development
Lisa Office System“Apple announces the Lisa 2” by Gregg Williams, from Byte 1984
    A short preview of Apple Lisa 2
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalViewoNLine System/Augment“Of mice and men” by Steven Levy, from Popular Computing 1984
    A story on Douglas Engelbart and his most popular invention
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalViewLisa Office SystemVisi OnMac OS“The desktop environment” by Paul Bonner, from Personal Computing 1984
    An article about pros and cons of desktop GUIs and the 1984’s status quo
Lisa Office System“The Lisa 2: Apple’s ablest computer” by David D. Redhed, from Byte 1984
    A review of Lisa 2 and its suite of applications
GEM“Romancing a clone: GEM’s many facets” by Winn L. Rosch, from PC Magazine 1984
    First look at Digital Research’s Graphics Environment Manager
Mac OS“Evaluating the Macintosh Finder” by Mark S. Jennings, from Byte 1984
    A look at shortcomings of first edition of Macintosh’s graphical user interface
GEM“A GEM from DRI?” by Michael J. Miller, from Popular Computing 1985
    A short announcement of Graphics Environment Manager
Mac OSLisa Office System“The legacy of the Lisa” by Larry Tesler, from MacWorld 1985
    A short view on the advancements Lisa brought to GUI design
Windows“Drawing back the curtain on Windows shows Microsoft has a clear edge” by Bill Machrone, from PC Magazine 1985
    A review of Microsoft Windows 1.0
Windows“Microsoft Windows” by Diane Burns and S. Venit, from 1985
    A short review of Windows 1.0 in a story about productivity software
Windows“Microsoft Windows” by Jonathan Lazarus, from 1986
    A short review of Windows 1.0 awarded the Best of 1985 distinction
Lisa Office SystemMac OS“The past, present, and future of the Macintosh desktop” from Signal #26
    The interview with Dan Smith about interfaces of Lisa and Macintosh
Lisa Office System“LisaLearning” by John M. Carroll and Sandra A. Mazur, from IEEE Computer 1986
    A thorough evaluation of LisaLearning software
Lisa Office System“Apple Lisa Graphical Object-Oriented User Interface” by David T. Craig, 1987
    An outline of Lisa’s user interface principles
OS/2Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalViewWindowsNewWaveMac OS“Sorting out fact from fiction in the Apple-Microsoft lawsuit” by John C. Dvorak, from PC Magazine 1988
    An article clearing up popular misconceptions about Apple vs. Microsoft/Hewlett-Packard lawsuit
“The cutting edge” by John C. Dvorak, from MacUser 1988
    A humorous look at the desktop metaphor
OPEN LOOK“Face to face with Open Look” by Tony Hoeber, from Byte 1988
    An initial evaluation of OPEN LOOK
Lisa Office SystemNeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Rhapsody“Lisa lives” by Fred Langa, from Byte 1988
    On the spirit of Lisa preserved in NeXT computer.
The X Window System“The X Window System” by Dick Pountain, from Byte 1989
    Technical description of The X Window System
The X Window SystemCommon Desktop Environment“OSF/Motif” by John Paul, from Byte 1989
    A first look at OSF/Motif
Mac OSNeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Rhapsody“The Mac interface: Showing its age” by Don Crabb, from Byte 1989
    A short and at times strangely prophetic piece on deficiencies of Macintosh’s GUI
OPEN LOOKMac OSWindowsThe X Window SystemOS/2Common Desktop EnvironmentNewWaveAmiga OSGEMNeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Rhapsody“A guide to GUIs” by Frank Hayes and Nick Baran, from Byte 1989
    A 1989’s look at and comparison of twelve then-state-of-the-art graphical user interfaces
Common Desktop Environment“Of mice and menus: Designing the user-friendly interface” by Tekla S. Perry and John Voelcker, from IEEE Spectrum 1989
    A history of early GUIs, full of interesting tidbits
Xerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalView“The Xerox Star: A retrospective” by Jeff Johnson, Teresa L. Roberts, William Verplank, David C. Smith, Charles H. Irby, Marian Beard and, from IEEE Computer 1989
    A description of Xerox Star’s design, development, features and evolution
SketchpadoNLine System/AugmentXerox Star/ViewPoint/GlobalViewLisa Office SystemMac OSNewWave“Of mice and menus: Designing the user-friendly interface” by Tekla S. Perry and John Voelcker, from IEEE Spectrum 1989
    A history of early GUIs, full of interesting tidbits
Lisa Office System“Apple, early officers face trial over Twiggy” by Carolyn Said, from MacWEEK 1989
    Short piece on Apple’s problems with proprietary Twiggy drives
NewWave“HP’s NewWave offers a more natural way of working with documents” by Charles Petzold, from PC Magazine 1989
    A review of first edition of Hewlett-Packard NewWave
Copyright © 2002-2006 Marcin Wichary, unless stated otherwise.