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In 1975, when the author of this article could still display his age with the fingers on one hand, the computer industry and academic community were in the process of transforming computers form giant behemoths of 1950s and 60s into sleek indispensable devices we refer to as “personal computers” today. Among thousands of inventions and innovations that helped this transformation along I think the five most important are the mouse, the Desktop, windowed interfaces, networking, and speed and memory increase. These major developments combined with many others brought personal computer from an obscure device understood by a few to a technological marvel essential for the lives of many. Early computer designers realized that in order to make personal computer mainstream it should be easily understood and manipulated by an average office worker, who doesn’t have any special computer training and is using PC to complete a variety of tasks. Concept of the Desktop GUI brought this vision to reality. Today an average computer user performs many tasks on the virtual desktop, which has a virtual file cabinet, trash bin, scratch pad, sticky notes, mailbox, etc. These virtual items represent familiar objects allowing the user to perform operations on the computer by association with real world. The images and objects on the screen can be manipulated with the mouse and an on-screen cursor which directly corresponds to the mouse movements. Windows interface subdivides activities on the screen and allows the user to perform several tasks at once, easily switching current active task to the one running in the background. Networking allows many users to communicate, as if they are working in the same office space, without regard to actual distance. Networking made telecommuting an option for a growing number of people. The Internet extended communication even further. Users around the world can collaborate on projects, exchange information, perform research activities in the largest reference library in the world, and even attend classes without ever seeing an instructor. Direct manipulation of graphical objects was first demonstrated by Ivan Sutherland in Sketchpad in 1963. Sketchpad used a light pen to allow object manipulation such as moving, grabbing and resizing. In 1970s research in Xerox PARC furthered the development of GUI with creation of many techniques popular today such as icons, ways to select, open and manipulate items on the screen, and especially the concept of WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get). WYSIWIG is widely used today in word processing, desktop publishing and many other applications. Nowadays many people cannot imagine using computer without GUI. Many tasks can be accomplished just by copying, pasting, dragging and dropping, clicking and double-clicking, without knowing about complex processes behind the screen, without typing cryptic commands at the blinking cursor on the black-and-green lifeless display. Millions of computer users never heard of C-prompt, DOS or FDISK. GUI concepts have been applied in various technologies. Phone company technician can access a visual representation of piece of equipment and manipulate cards and configure communication channels with the click of a mouse. Some of us still have to deal with terminal screens at work, not out of necessity but more for convenience, speed or unwillingness to spend money on replacing the old system. Speaking about clicking and double-clicking, another great advance in computer usability is a ubiquitous computer mouse. This not so simple device comes in a variety of forms such as two- or three-buttons, wheel, laser, trackball, laptop “eraser head” or a pad. Most of the activities associated with GUI would be impossible without a mouse. Mouse is so easy to operate that within five minutes the author’s 2-year-old daughter knew exactly what to do with it. The mouse was developed at Stanford Research Laboratory in 1965 and in 1968 Doug Engelbart demonstrated how it could be used with GUI. In 1981 Xerox Star was the first computer to use a mouse as an input device. People using the mouse everyday may not know why and how it works and the complex psychological abstractions behind their ability to associate a little arrow on the screen with the movement of the device in their hand. As long as we need to point and click mouse will be an integral part of any computer. Any application where mouse cannot be used seems crippled and awkward to use, and these applications are a dieing breed. Windowed interfaces are closely associated with GUI and mice. Windows allow the user to have several tasks open at once and switch between active and inactive windows as needed. Most of contemporary computer interfaces involve windows of some shape of form. MS Windows made the word part of their name but there are windows in MacOS, KDE, X-windows and the list goes on. Users may have a few windows open or as many as their system will allow. At the author’s workplace having 20-30 windows open at one time is so common that the second monitor was provided to help dealing with all of the tasks. The windowed interface progressed from tiled windows in Engelbart's NLS in 1968 to overlapping windows in Alan Kay’s Smalltalk system developed at Xerox PARC in 1974. Usability of overlapping windows is obvious. A workplace example is when a variety of systems can be accessed at the same time with information being passed between the windows. Combination of windowed interface, mouse and GUI makes a using personal computer easy and intuitive, and this review ranks them as top 3 developments in computer usability Networking opened unlimited boundaries to computer users and made the PC capable of much more than one non-networked machine could have ever produced. Computers in the network can share printers and other devices, users are able to share information and store their data on network drives and than access it from other locations, e-mail, project collaboration, videoconferencing, and remote access – the list goes on and on. In many workplaces users are able to log on to any PC and have their settings loaded and their e-mail checked. Telecommuting is a growing trend where remote access allows users to perform their tasks at home. In many companies printed documents are almost completely replaced by e-mail. In the author’s workplace networking allows technicians to access and troubleshoot telephone equipment in the four-state area. Large part of documentation is stored on network drives so a technician can access a manual or a procedure at will. Field technicians can connect to the system through wireless network and report their time, check workload and report trouble. Company Intranet is a valuable resource for employees providing a single point access to wealth of technical resources and other information. Internet adds even more usability to computers by allowing users to communicate with the outside world and find valuable reference information, keep up with the news, shop and even pay taxes. Networking and Interned transformed personal computers from just a fancy computing devices into vital business, communication and entertainment tool. There are many other advances in technology that made computers more usable. This review ranks speed and memory among the top five such developments. With advances in microchip technology computers became not only smaller but also much faster with larger memory capacity. Where older computers had a clock speed of a few Megahertz, small RAM and almost no hard disk space, modern computers improved these factors by several orders of magnitude. Of course, computer usability is also improved. Many more programs can be loaded into memory and stored on hard drive. Higher processor speeds allow computers to perform complex computations, process multi-media, support stable operating systems, and play games, music, edit movies, etc. High-speed computers are used in publishing, movie industry, networking and telecommunications. Since 1970s personal computers underwent a dramatic change towards better usability and became a vital tool for users at home, in the workplace, in the industry and education. Current research goals are to make computers smaller, faster and even easier to use. While many concepts have been tested over time it is clear that some didn’t work out and others needed improvement. However, computer mouse, windowed interface, GUI, computer networking survived the test of time and backed by solid technology and research continue to be essential even after many years since first being introduced. Sources: VISUAL DESIGN FOR THE USER INTERFACE
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