The evolution of the Mac user interface

How many of you were early adopters of the Mac? I came in on the second wave, with my first being the Mac SE, which came out in 1987 – three years after the original Macintosh release. It’s fun to look back at how the graphical user interface, called Finder, evolved.

At that time, there was no mainstream GUI for IBM PC compatibles, as what we now call Windows PCs were termed. (The fact the machines ceased being identified with IBM, and became identified instead with Microsoft, demonstrates how badly Big Blue botched the whole thing. (Today, of course, IBM doesn’t even sell Windows PCs, though they do make PowerPC-based IntelliStations, which offer “server-inspired performance in deskside workstations.”)

Although Windows 1.0 appeared in 1985, and the vastly better Windows 2.0 in 1987, DOS GUIs were niche products until Windows 3.1 came out in 1992, and then of course Windows 95 clinched the deal a few years later.

If you want to see how much different the Mac user interface is today from its forebears, check out Prince McLean’s article from Apple Insider, “The Road to Mac OS X Leopard: Finder 10.5.” The milestones he details were so important. MultiFinder was a biggie, as any Machead would remember.