From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: pepe@naleco.com (Josh Good) Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2017 21:17:43 +0100 Subject: [TUHS] X, Suntools, and the like In-Reply-To: <1BF96B93-740B-4CE5-8B66-CB5B4504B8AD@tfeb.org> References: <4227EA32-12C2-46D1-B683-88812D1E5168@tfeb.org> <3B3776C9-1B22-4143-A4F5-0BEA13C79505@tfeb.org> <20170315164006.GC26286@wopr> <20170316230455.GA21805@naleco.com> <44029610-41EA-404A-AF14-F02A6EAC6143@orthanc.ca> <1BF96B93-740B-4CE5-8B66-CB5B4504B8AD@tfeb.org> Message-ID: <20170317201742.GB21805@naleco.com> On 2017 Mar 17, 15:19, Tim Bradshaw wrote: > On 16 Mar 2017, at 23:29, Lyndon Nerenberg wrote: > > > > The Mac proclaimed the bitmap screen interface to the world, but X11 (and Sunview) pretty much invented the GUI desktop metaphor. > > As someone who used Xerox machines: no, they didn't. I concur that the Xerox GUI was not a "desktop metaphor". The "GUI desktop metaphor" embodies much more than a graphical canvas where to move a pointer to click around. It needs the concept of "unified session" and of "private session" to happen too. On X11, you have a root window where different remote apps from different remote systems and from different logged users can draw things. That's not a "desktop metaphor", that's just a "blackboard metaphor". A "desktop metaphor" needs the "private unified session" concept to happen too. X was designed at MIT way before the "desktop metaphor", which probably was invented (as such) in the McIntosh. -- Josh Good