American Decades
Internet and Big Business
Microsoft Windows.
In the 1980s Microsoft created the operating system (OS) known as Windows. Microsoft had made its name by creating DOS, the clunky OS that sat inside every IBM personal computer (PC). Windows was originally a graphical user interface (GUI) intended to run on top of DOS in order to make it easier to use. In other words, it was like a new and improved façade on top of an old building. A GUI used pictures rather than words, making the PC easy and intuitive. Computer researchers at Xerox Parc actually created the first GUI, using a mouse to point to information on the screen. Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computers, saw a demonstration of the GUI at Xerox Parc and realized that it was the future of personal computers. Under his direction, Apple developed the wildly popular Macintosh with its GUI, which by 1987 was selling a million units a year, competing with the IBM PC. The Macintosh was so easy to use that it...
[The entire page is 3308 words long]
1990's Science and Technology
