This timeline lists all of the graphical user interface environments that I have been able to find information about through my own research and on the Internet. I want to be as historically accurate as I can, however due to limited available information there may be some mistakes. See my notes section at the end for known inaccuracies.

Last edited by Michael on 2005-8-21 at 23:15 ]

April 1973, the first operational Alto computer is completed at Xerox PARC.
The Alto is the first system to pull together all of the elements of the modern Graphical User Interface.

Features:
3-button mouse.
Bit-mapped display.
The use of graphical windows.
Ethernet network.

1980: Three Rivers Computer Corporation introduces the the Perq graphical workstation.

1981 June: Xerox introduces the Star, the commercial successor to the Alto.
Notable features:
Double-clickable icons, overlapping windows, dialog boxes and a 1024*768 monochrome display.

1983 January: Apple introduces the Lisa.
Notable features:
Pull down menus and menu bars.

Visi Corp releases Visi On, the first integrated graphical software environment for IBM PCs.

Microsoft announces their new "Windows" program for the IBM PC but does not release it until 1985.
Notable features:
Is supposed to have overlapping / resizable windows.

January 1984: Apple introduces the Macintosh.


September: Digital Research announces its GEM icon/desktop user interface for 8086- and DOS-based computers. It also was later ported to the Atari ST.


June: "window system X" announced at MIT.
Versions 1-6 were monochrome only, and ran on DEC VS100's displays connected to VAXen and VAXstations 1 and 2.
Versions 8-10 dealt with color, for the VAXstation II/GPX. X10 is the first version that saw widespread availability and use on many vendor's systems.
Version 11 was redesign for higher performance, more window management styles, extensibility and better graphics capability

1985: Geos released for Commodore 64 and later the Apple II.


July: Commodore introduces the Amiga 1000 with the Amiga Workbench Version 1.0.


August: Microsoft finally releases the first version of Windows.
Features:
Windows can not be overlapped, but are instead "tiled".
Windows are not allowed to cover an area at the bottom of the screen that is reserved for "iconized" programs.

1986: Apple threatens to sue Digital Research because the GEM desktop looked too much like Apple's Macintosh. Digital Research cripples the desktop application so Apple will not sue.
The new GEM desktop now has just two unmovable, non-resizable windows for file browsing.



March 1987 - Apple introduces the Apple Macintosh II, the first color Macintosh.
Features: 640*480*256 color with 24 bit color card available.



Microsoft releases the second version of Windows, version 2.03.
Features:
Finally has resizable / overlapping windows and new windowing controls.



Acorn releases "Arthur" for the Acorn computer, it is the basis for RISC OS. RISC OS 2 and 3 have a similar look, but an improved feel.

September 1988: Apple releases GS/OS, a 16-bit operating system with a Macintosh-like GUI for the Apple IIGS.


October: IBM releases OS/2 1.10 Standard Edition (SE) which added a graphical user interface called Presentation Manager. (OS/2 1.0 was text mode only!) The 1.10 GUI was written by Microsoft and looked like Windows 2.


October: The NeXT Computer is released for $6500. It includes a 25 MHz '30 processor, 8 MB RAM, 250 MB optical disk drive, math coprocessor, digital processor for real time sound, fax modem, and a 17" monitor.

1990: Commodore releases Amiga Workbench 2 for the A3000.
Features: New 3d effects, a revised menu system and many other improvements.



May 1990: Windows 3.0 released by Microsoft
Features: Program Manager shell.



November: PC-GEOS released by GeoWorks.

Spring of 1992: IBM releases OS/2 Version 2.0, a true 32-bit OS.
Features a new "Workplace Shell", an object oriented user interface that is heavily integrated with the rest of the OS.


March: Microsoft introduces Windows 3.1. The user interface is basically the same as Windows 3.0 but now includes their "multimedia" enhancements.


September: Amiga Workbench 3 released for AGA Amigas.
Features: Images for backgrounds, color pallet remapping.

May 1993 Microsoft releases the first version of Windows NT, their 32-bit OS. They give it the version number "3.1" and use the same user interface they do for regular Windows 3.1. Made available for Intel, Power PC, Alpha, and MIPS systems.


1994: QNX Software Systems releases the first embeddable microkernel windowing system, the Photon microGUI.


1995: Microsoft introduces Windows 95 on August 24th.


October: Be introduced BeOS at Agenda 96. The first version was designed to run on a custom multiprocessor system known as the "BeBox". Later made available for Power PC and Intel systems.

1996: New Deal releases New Deal Office 2.5, which was formerly PC-GEOS.


IBM Releases OS/2 Warp 4 with a significant facelift for the Workplace Shell.


Microsoft releases Windows NT 4.0 with the same user interface as Windows 95.

July 1997: Mac OS 8 is finally released. Selling 1.25 million copies in less than 2 weeks, it becomes the best-selling software in that period.


Features: Internet Explorer Web browser application takes over the role of the Windows shell, advertising right on the desktop, entire help system replaced by Internet Explorer.


July 12, 1998: KDE 1.0 released
Features: A very Windows 9x like environment for Linuix.


November 22, 1998: Shane Brooks Releases 98Lite, an installer that removes or prevents the installation of Internet Explorer with Windows 98.
Features No Internet Explorer or advertising, all the hardware support of Windows 98, faster boot time, and the more responsive Windows 95 shell.

March 3, 1999: GNOME 1.0 released.


March 1999 - Apple releases Mac OS X Server, a Unix based OS with their Macintosh GUI.


June 1999 - RISCOS Ltd releases RISC OS 4 for RiscPC, A7000 or A7000+ machines.

January 5, 2000: Apple announces Aqua, the new look for their upcoming MacOS X client.


February 17, 2000: Microsoft Windows 2000 (AKA Windows NT 5) becomes available in stores.
Features: The Internet Explorer web browser application finally takes over the Windows NT UI.


October 25, 2001: Microsoft releases Windows XP (AKA Windows NT 5.1)
Features:
Tons of eye candy.
"Product Activation" tethers XP to the existence of the Microsoft corporation.


April 24, 2003: Microsoft releases Windows Server 2003 (AKA Windows NT 5.2 and for a time called "Windows.NET server")
Features:
Drops the eye candy.
Server-only release.


January 2004, ReactOS 0.2.0 is released. ReactOS is a 32-bit Windows clone and can even use Windows NT device drivers. This is the first version to include its GUI shell - ReactOS Explorer. At this point ReactOS is still in early development and can only run very simple Windows applications such as Solitaire.

Micheal 干得好！有种时间倒流的感觉。为什么不翻译为中文呢？都是摘抄外国网站的吗？

A good summary!