A History of the GUI [arstechnica.com]

Covering Englebart, Xerox Parc through to BeOS and MacOS X, this is a nicely written casual introdution to some of the history behind the GUI computer metaphors still used today. Including (somewhat unsatisfactory in the case of Bush) introductions to two of my all time favourite scientist/engineers, Vanevar Bush and Douglas Englebart.

If you have any involvement in the IT industry and names like Douglas Englebart and Xerox Parc mean nothing to you, you really *must* read this article.

Despite all my prior knowledge, I learnt some new tidbits from the arstechnica article. For instance: "The author of Bravo [the original Xerox Alto word processor program -- Mark], Charles Simonyi, would eventually join Microsoft and recreate his work as the original Word for DOS.

Addendum:

If you, like me, are fascinated by Bush's amazing foresight and innovation, From Memex to Hypertext: Vanevar Bush and the Mind's Machine is an amazing (albeit dry) read. It includes Douglas Englebart's letter to Vannevar Bush "On Human Effectiveness". No-one titles letters like that any more!

Addendum 2:

I have spotted a number of minor incorrect facts and anecdotes in the arstechnica article, so don't believe everything you read. It is notoriously hard to get some of those historical facts especially as sometimes the well known involved parties often have conflicting memories themselves.