Re: [Usability] Head matter [ a timeout from the debating ;) ]

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Jeff Waugh wrote:

>Despite my memories of getting "cool hacks that made stuff 3D" (like Xaw3D,
>various Windows things pre-Win95 and all the Mac addons that finally brought
>on the Copeland look), the real-world 3D look has definitely enhanced
>usability, when not overdone.
>
> Anyone have good references, or stories with regards to this?

The earliest 'proper' 3D commercial desktop I remember is NeXT's from
1988, although the first one I ever used myself was the Amiga's
Workbench 2.0 in 1990.  First time I recall using OpenWindows was 1992,
when Solaris 2.0 hit the streets; not sure if it was available before
that or not.  It was superceded by CDE in 1995.

Check out this site for some interesting screenshots and some
GUI-related history:

http://209.196.53.130/linebackn/guis/guitimeline.html

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com    Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems