Perkins Inventing Lisa Interface CPSR Email

Apple Lisa Computer Technical Information The Story Behind the Lisa (and Macintosh) Interface Source: http://home.san.rr.com/deans/lisagui.html 23 April 2000 -----------------------------------------------------------------------* Cover message * Inventing the Lisa Interface * Goals and Guiding Principles * The Beginnings of the Lisa * The Early User Interface * Outside Influences * A Shift in Thinking * The Desktop Metaphor * The Role of User Testing * Arriving at an Interface * The Early Days of the Desktop Manager * Desktop Icons Rejected! * A Document Browser * The 20 Questions Filer * "Son of Dataland" * The IBM Contribution * Today's Desktop Model * Citations * Pictures of Lisa UI Prototypes -----------------------------------------------------------------------_________________________________________________________________________ Cover message Date: From: To: Subject: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 17:13:10 -0700 "Rod Perkins" "Multiple recipients of list cpsr-history@cpsr.org" Inventing the Apple Lisa; original paper. Although the Macintosh receives the recognition for creating Apple's desktop metaphor, the development of Lisa user interface pre-dates the Mac. Many of the concepts developed for the Lisa were used in the Mac's design. Other Lisa features are creeping into the UI in 1996 as Apple implements multi-processing and protected memory. Although the Lisa was not a commercial success, without the early work done by the Lisa team, there would not be the Macintosh we know today. I was among the first software engineers to work on the applications for the Lisa and its user interface. Myself, and two others from the Lisa "Filer" team wrote a paper in 1989 that described how the Lisa's UI was designed. The paper was to be a chapter in the book, "The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design", edited by Brenda Laurel, Addison-Wesley, 1990. However, as someone pointed out earlier, Apple was actively litigating against Microsoft at the time, so it was though better not to have the paper published. The paper included screen shots that pre-dates the legendary visits to Parc by Steve and other people from Apple. No doubt the Parc visits provided inspiration but its was not "standard myth that Apple lifted the user interface of the Lisa and Mac in whole from the Star". I included the text of the paper below. The Story Behind the Lisa (and Macintosh) Interface -- 1 of 20 Apple Lisa Computer Technical Information _________________________________________________________________________ Inventing the Lisa Interface Frank Ludolph Ludolph@aol.com Rod Perkins rod@aviodigital.com Dan Smith dkeller@palm.com Today's familiar Macintosh user interface is a direct descendent of the interface first developed and used on Apple's Lisa computer. Instead of a text-based system that presented the user with a blank screen and blinking cursor, the Lisa gave the user a picture of an electronic desktop, a picture that the user manipulated directly to tell the computer…