Contents: * Brief History of WIMP systems. * What people Report Easy to Use. * Concepts that aid in a better WIMP. * How we can better move forward. * Remember to KISS. ***************************************************************************** ***** Brief history of the WIMP: ******************************************** ***************************************************************************** The WIMP concept grew out of NLS, which was not yet a WIMP so will only have this paragraph. This history is far from complete, just hitting highlights. The first WIMP we know of was that from Xerox PARC with there smalltalk system of the mid 1970s. All others grew from this research. This system has all the features we expect in a WIMP, with the exception of overlapping Windows (though later these were added). In the late 1970's and early 1980's we saw the LISP machines with there Windowing Systems. Not all were full WIMP systems, though some were. Then came the 1980's, and the rise of the WIMP in personal computers for the mass market. Apple came out with the Apple LISA then the Macintosh. The Macintosh was an extremely successful computer largely do to having many features that Steve Jobs did NOT want (he never could get it correct in the technology side). It was the rest of the team that made the Macintosh so successful. These two projects were running Windowing Systems by 1983, possibly by 1982 (difficult to pin down exactly). In 1983 came the W Windowing System, that eventually evolved into the X Windowing System that many still use today. As these are designed for remote display of graphical applications they really belong to the Time Sharing Systems for use at networked terminals like Unix. In the Soviet the Agat came into being. I have very little information on this Windowing System beyond that it had one. This was likely the first 8-bit home computer with a Windowing System. Visi On came up in this time. Visi On was not a complete WIMP, though was an impressive preemptive multitasking Windowing System that ran on top of DOS. It never caught on as it was a closed system for which developing software for was pretty much out of the picture for any third parties. Then a well known name in software, Digital Research, came out with a GUI that had the promise to unite systems on many CPU's, like CP/M had done for Operating Systems before it. This WIMP known as DR-GEM was somewhat popular on x86 based DOS systems, though really shined on the Atari ST series (including the TT and Falcon). Amiga Intuition, one of the best known WIMP's, and with good reason. Intuition is way ahead of the curve in many regards, especially from the programs view. With a callback based system of delivering Events that can be used even if the main task is too busy to respond (Amiga OS is preemptive multitasking). In 1986 came the 8-bit WIMP called GEOS. This was a very well done WIMP that could run in as little as 64KB of RAM including a full application, and ran on 0.3MIPS 6502 machines. Also in 1986 came NeWS, one of the worse ideas for Windowing Systems. The problem was that it used Display PostScript for graphics output, this is now known to be a bad idea for efficient Graphics Systems, though Sun tried it anyway then. There have been a few since that have tried the same bad idea, doomed to fail (NeXTSTEP, Mac OS X, etc). Then came RISC OS (ok Arthur first). This is the Operating System this site is mainly about, so no reason to say too much here. Microsoft also made some half hearted attempts, none of which are worth mentioning (are they even still in business after there blunders of 3 decades ago?). With the end of the 1980's we saw the end of any inovation in WIMP systems. Yes there were new desktop environments, and minor asthetic improvements, though functionally the WIMP had come of age already. We already had compositing Window Managers, Vector Fonts, Dynamic Clipping, and everything else that still marks the height of Window Management today. Even in the usability of Desktop Environments there has not really been any headway since about 1989, maybe (arguably) some in 1991. It has been mainly people adding eye candy, or trying to better immitate Macintosh System Software in function since then. In the 1990's Macintosh System Software ruled the WIMP in North America (including here in the U.S.A), with Amiga OS coming in a close second. In Britain from what I can tell it was RISC OS with Amiga OS as a close second. For my personal usage it was RISC OS first, Amiga OS secondarily, and some Macintosh System Software usage. ***************************************************************************** ***** What people Report Easy to Use. *************************************** ***************************************************************************** To answer this we (myself and others) have spent a lot of time reading what different people report as easier to use. It is especially telling to see what people feel is easier to use as there first WIMP (many today use touch devices first, WIMP's later), as well as what they report is easier when they first try what is now often called a "Retro OS". It is very telling that most that report being born after 2000 and, thus growing up with newer designs, usually report that some of the "Retro" stuff from the 1990's is easier to use than the newer stuff. This especially goes for younger users, thus showing that things are moving away from usability. For those that use there first WIMP as something that was common in the time still reported as the best of WIMP interfaces (those of the 1990's) the reports are very telling. Those that people seem to report as easy to use the most include: * Macintosh System Software (versions 6.0.8 through 9.2.2). * Amiga OS 2.0 through 3.1.x. * RISC OS 3.0 and newer, especially when it is there first. Thus we have the more difficult to figure out question of what aspects of these WIMP's are most user friendly for what groups of people. This is without copying wholesale. All we can base on is the past research and what people report today. ***************************************************************************** ***** Concepts that aid in a better WIMP: *********************************** ***************************************************************************** When we look closer at the individual features that make each WIMP easier to use from the reports of many we find much inspiration. There is one thing the WIMP's that people report being easier to use and more enjoyable all have in common. That is that they are all much simpler interfaces than the current trend in WIMP design. Less to learn, more to do with what you know, these are the biggest keys. Some of the features people report as making them more fun and easier to use include (some of these conflict): * Multi State simple Icon images in File views (Amiga OS). * Static Menu bar, with always visable headers (Macintosh System Software). * Popup Application Menus (both Amiga OS and RISC OS). * Simple eloquent Windowing controls (Amiga OS, Macintosh, and RISC OS). * More Responsive in most cases (Amiga OS, Macintosh, and RISC OS). Then there are questions around the extended features, most of which people tend to like those of the Macintosh System Software the best. These include the method of Copy/Cut and Paste, the conformance of most programs, the ability to have non standard Window Shapes, etc. This one is a bit difficult for the author to admit, as I am a RISC OS user primarily. Overall it does seem that the general consensus is that if we had the feature set of Macintosh System Software exactly, with the option of popup menus for the main application menus, and the ability to maintain multitasking in all programs while menus are in use, we would have the most usable system by most accounts. If the optional abilty to drag file icons directly to Finder Windows were added it would improve even further. This makes for an interesting set of results to think about. ***************************************************************************** ***** How we can better move forward: *************************************** ***************************************************************************** Based on what we learn above we can see a path to a better future in usable WIMP based User Interfaces. The core of it comes down to KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) in all regards. Beyond this just look at the features as well as the layouts that tend to be easy for people to learn and use. Thanks to Allen Kay and Bill Atkinson the Macintosh System Software got most things the best possible from the start, this is amaizing when you think about the 38 years between the release of the Macintosh and this document being written. Having now done the research, I admit I was wrong to think that RISC OS is the simplest to use and learn. I was correct that it is one of the older systems still around, that of the Macintosh System Software (NOT the NeXTSTEP based Mac OS X), though it is a slight surprise to me which one it turns out is truly easiest to use for most people. It is especially surprising to see people that were not around in the 1990s that today report that there experience with the "old" "Classic" Macintosh System Software is the best most usable and easiest to use. This really helps to cement the fact of what system is the easiest to use. There is an aspect that has not been mentioned yet, and it is another area that the Macintosh System Software holds a huge advantage. That is the software that is available, how easy to use said software is, and how many use cases are covered by easy to use software. In summery if we address the very few known weaknesses of the Macintosh System Software, while maintaining compatibiltiy with the existing software (both 68K and PowerPC) for this OS we will have the bese WIMP system around. That and port a few newer applications (mostly a more up to date Web Browser) for things that have evolved a bit. ***************************************************************************** ***** Remember to KISS: ***************************************************** ***************************************************************************** Beyond all else this research teaches us that it is the simpler, not overdone software and WIMP that people want and like to use. That is to say that the modern trend of feature bloat is NOT what people enjoy. In both the software that people report enjoying to use and the systems they report to most enjoy using software on, KISS is the strongest thing that is seen. Keep the software simple, keep the OS simple, keep the WIMP simple.