Lesson 1: The Big Picture or Why the World    Wide Web Waited until the 1990s

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1984 saw the marketing of the first microcomputers with a graphical users interface (GUI). With much fanfare, the Apple Corporation introduced the Macintosh computer. The Mac was revolutionary because it gave users more options. Not only could they view text and punch keys, but now they could view graphics and point and click with a mouse. Using a personal computer was never easier.

That same year and with little fanfare, Microsoft introduced a GUI called Windows. Windows, version 1.0, was downright primitive when compared to the new Macintosh. The Macintosh was a happy marriage of proprietary hardware and proprietary software. You plugged it in and it worked. In contrast, MS Windows was not operating system at all, but a shell resting on top of DOS. For several years, if you wanted a graphical computer you bought a Mac, and if you wanted a word processing/number crunching computer you bought a DOS computer. MS Windows did not win over many users until 1988 when Microsoft marketed Windows 3.1. Slowly DOS users migrated to Windows, and soon Windows applications supplanted DOS applications.

In 1995, Microsoft Windows 95 appeared as a true Operating System. Much of the popularity of The World Wide Web rests on its ability to deliver stunning graphics as well a well written text. Without a Graphical Users Interface, the Web would not be possible.

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