
10.1 It’s the content, stupid!
If you were born after the late 1970s, your first meaningful encounter with a
computer was probably with a WIMPy (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers)
personal computer. Your computer has always had a GUI where you would
point at and click on small graphical images called icons. As far as you’re con
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cerned, Microsoft invented windows and menus and all the visual delights
that make PCs so much fun.
The truth is that Microsoft didn’t invent the WIMP user interface after
all. Xerox—yes, the copier people—did. The Xerox Star, introduced in 1981
by Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (a.k.a. “Xerox PARC”) was the first sig
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nificant ...