China DOS Union

Getting to Know the GUI

Speaking of the graphical user interface, I have to say that it is the essence of the programming field! Because anyone who uses a computer is in constant contact with it every moment—the graphical user interface. So everyone may ask, what exactly is a graphical user interface? Then let me tell you. In fact, the graphical user interface is right before your eyes, right on your screen. The so-called graphical user interface is the display presented when an application runs on the operating system platform. As everyone knows, the operating systems we used in the past were all DOS, and the interaction DOS established with users was in the form of a command line. This was very common for the DOS family.

With the rapid development of microelectronics technology, computer hardware performance has also been continuously improving. Take the microprocessor, known as the heart of the computer, for example: from the early 80286, 80386, 80486 to the current P4 and so on, all of this shows the growing maturity of integrated circuit chip manufacturing technology and the endless emergence of new techniques. And improvements in computer hardware performance are bound to drive the development of computer software technology. You should know that no matter how good the hardware system is, without the command of software—that is, programs—it is just a pile of scrap metal! So we can sum it up in one sentence: hardware is the foundation of the computer, while software is the soul of the computer. From this, its importance is obvious.

I don't know when it happened, but the software we use entered the age of the graphical user interface. For a time, all kinds of software began appearing before us with friendly interfaces. But which one was perfect? One day, a student at Harvard University in the United States left the campus impatiently before even graduating. He majored in computer science, but at that time computers were still only in their beginning stage. Unlike today, computers back then were used only in the military and education fields. So this Harvard student who had not graduated began carrying out his grand plan! Since childhood he had had a dream: to start a software company of his own, and he had always been moving toward that goal. One day, he finally got his company running in an initial way, and named it Microsoft. I think the reason he gave the company this name was to deeply express the concept of “software” and “hardware.” “Micro” meant microcomputer, that is, hardware, while “soft” naturally referred to software, that is, programs.

Competition in that field at the time was extremely fierce, and it was very difficult to improve a company's performance. You couldn't make much money just by cooperating. So Bill Gates saw an opportunity. He discovered that DOS was certain to have great prospects in the future, so he decided to spend a huge sum to buy the copyright to DOS. During the period that followed, Microsoft made the necessary modifications to the DOS they had bought and launched the first disk operating system developed by their company—MS-DOS. And just at that time, a change was quietly taking place in the operating system field, namely a shift from the single command-line style toward a what-you-see-is-what-you-get graphical user interface. At that time, some company had already released an operating system with a simple graphical user interface, and it even supported a new gadget—the mouse. You should know that at the time, the mouse was a brand-new thing; such an advanced input device was rare!

At this point Microsoft also saw this tempting prospect: the future would certainly belong to the graphical user interface! So Microsoft hurried to draw up their plans; they also wanted to develop an operating system with a graphical user interface. Finally, one day, Microsoft released their Windows series of operating systems!

Judging from the long test of survival in the marketplace, it can be proven that the Windows series of operating systems developed by Microsoft was indeed an immediate success! There are an enormous number of users worldwide; otherwise, why would Microsoft have monopolized the whole world? Facts have proven that the graphical user interface is successful. Its friendly interface and ease of operation—aren't these exactly what users are after? At the very moment you are reading this post, aren't you also facing a graphical user interface? Windows, menus, buttons, and so on—don't all of these belong to the elements of the graphical user interface? I want to say that we are in an ocean of graphical user interfaces...

Author's note: As for the implementation mechanism and working principles of the graphical user interface, I will discuss them in depth in later sections. All forum friends are welcome to read them then. Finally, let us roam in the ocean of the graphical user interface!

Bill Gates never graduated from college...
Bill Gates didn't have to go all over the place looking for a job...