Editing Desktop metaphor (section)

==History==

The desktop metaphor was first introduced by [[Alan Kay]], David C. Smith, and others at [[Palo Alto Research Center|Xerox PARC]] in 1970 and elaborated in a series of innovative software applications developed by PARC scientists throughout the ensuing decade. The first computer to use an early version of the desktop metaphor was the experimental [[Xerox Alto]],<ref>{{cite web | last1 = Koved | first1 = Larry | first2 = Ted | last2 = Selker |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/doc/10.1.1.22.1340| title = Room with a view (RWAV): A metaphor for interactive computing. | publisher = IBM TJ Watson Research Center | date = 1999 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.22.1340 }}</ref><ref>Thacker, Charles P., et al. [http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/blampson/25-Alto/25-Alto.pdf Alto: A personal computer.] Xerox, Palo Alto Research Center, 1979.</ref> and the first commercial computer that adopted this kind of interface was the [[Xerox Star]]. The use of [[window control]]s to contain related information predates the desktop metaphor, with a primitive version appearing in [[Douglas Engelbart]]'s "[[Mother of All Demos]]",<ref name=ArsTechnica2>{{cite web
|url=https://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/05/gui.ars/2
|title=A History of the GUI (Part 2)
|website=Ars Technica
|year=2005
|last=Reimer
|first=Jeremy
|access-date=2009-09-14
}}</ref>
though it was incorporated by PARC in the environment of the [[Smalltalk]] language.<ref name=ArsTechnica3>{{cite web
|url=https://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/05/gui.ars/3
|title=A History of the GUI (Part 3)
|website=Ars Technica
|year=2005
|last=Reimer
|first=Jeremy
|access-date=2009-09-14
}}</ref>

One of the first desktop-like interfaces on the market was a program called [[Magic Desk]] I. Built as a cartridge for the [[Commodore 64]] [[home computer]] in 1983, a very primitive GUI presented a [[low resolution]] sketch of a desktop, complete with telephone, drawers, calculator, etc. The user made their choices by moving a [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]] depicting a hand pointing by using the same [[joystick]] the user may have used for [[video gaming]]. Onscreen options were chosen by pushing the fire button on the joystick. The Magic Desk I program featured a [[typewriter]] graphically emulated complete with audio effects. Other applications included a calculator, [[rolodex]] organiser, and a [[terminal emulator]]. Files could be archived into the drawers of the desktop. A [[Trash (computing)|trashcan]] was also present.

The first computer to popularise the desktop metaphor, using it as a standard feature over the earlier [[command-line interface]] was the [[Apple Macintosh]] in 1984.  The desktop metaphor is ubiquitous in modern-day personal computing; it is found in most [[desktop environment]]s of modern operating systems: [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] as well as [[macOS]], [[Linux]], and other [[Unix-like]] systems.

[[BeOS]] observed the desktop metaphor more strictly than many other systems. For example, external hard drives appeared on the 'desktop', while internal ones were accessed clicking on an [[Icon (computing)|icon]] representing the computer itself. By comparison, the Mac OS places all drives on the desktop itself by default, while in Windows the user can access the drives through an icon labelled "Computer".

[[Amiga]] terminology for its desktop metaphor was taken directly from workshop jargon. The desktop was called [[Workbench (AmigaOS)|Workbench]], programs were called [[tools]], small applications ([[applets]]) were utilities, directories were drawers, etc.
Icons of objects were animated and the directories are shown as drawers which were represented as either open or closed.
As in the [[classic Mac OS]] and [[macOS]] desktop, an icon for a [[floppy disk]] or [[CD-ROM]] would appear on the desktop when the disk was inserted into the drive, as it was a virtual counterpart of a physical floppy disk or CD-ROM on the surface of a workbench.