Great Idea – Computer “Desktop
What’s on your Computer Desktop?
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Browser and Email reader
Office tools
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Microsoft Office or some other product
Adobe Reader
Games
Media manipulators
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Music, iTunes
Movies, Quicktime
Photos
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
Great Idea – Computer “Desktop
What’s on your Computer Desktop?
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“Business” Software
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Security software
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Symantec Antivirus
“firewall” protection
Course specific software
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Quicken
Turbo Tax
Karel the Robot
Recycle Bin
File storage
Todo list
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
Great Idea – Computer “Desktop
What do you use your computer for?
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Communication
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Social calendar
Virtual retail therapy
Entertainment
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Email
Virtual communities, facebook, myspace
E-newsletters, blogs
Games
Movies
TV
Art
Writing of all kinds
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Notes, letters, papers, etc.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
Great Idea – Computer “Desktop
What do you use your computer for?
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Household record keeping
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On-line banking
Bills
Tax information
General business correspondence
Source of news and information
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
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“Metaphor”
or a representation of something in the
physical world. Your computer “desktop” was
supposed to reflect or perhaps substitute for the
physical desktop you have at home or in your dorm.
To create this reflection, the computer uses a
multimedia graphical user interface to create a way
for you to interact with your machine.
This graphical interface is a software tool developed
so that you can communicate through an operating
system with your computer.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Great Ideas:
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“Desktop”
Graphical user interface
Operating system
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Great Idea: “Desktop”
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Let’s explore the desktop first.
It is a virtual world, created by a program, on your
monitor.
It is a collection of images that represent different
tasks.
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Little pictures, Icons, that represent these tasks
Folders
We have learned to give meaning to these images
The idea, which came about with the original
Macintosh in 1984 was to recreate on your monitor
your desk at home.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
My physical desk at home really does have a
rather remarkable resemblance to my
computer desktop only my computer desktop
is neater.
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Paper piles
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Some in file folders, some in boxes, some on the desk,
some on the floor, some actually filed
Books
Calculator
Rubber-bands, sticky notes, paper-clips, eye drops,
cancy
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
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Computer “desktop” was envisioned to simplify
our world.
It was thought that the computer would replace
all the stuff on our desks and we would
somehow move into a paperless world were all
our information was stored simply, efficiently
and painlessly in our virtual world.
The computer HAS altered our physical desktop
world, but it has certainly NOT eliminated it.
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Has it made our physical desktop world
simpler, easier to manage?
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
My computer desktop does help me
 Find my stuff, sometimes
 Make filing easier, sort of
 Make typing easier, especially spelling
 Has altered the way I do things
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Household business
Communication
Is it a help? I’m not sure!
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
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Our virtual desktop is a complex program that
manages the way people interact with
computers. It’s not magic. It’s just a program.
Operating System
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Operating Systems have names
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All general purpose computers have operating
systems
Supercomputers
iPhone
Windows
Mac OS X
Linux
Unix
Proprietary Operating Systems
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/o/operating_system.html
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Great Idea: Operating System
The Operating System is:
 The program that that lets your computer
communicate with you and with all the other
software that runs on your machine.
 “Performs basic tasks
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recognizing input from the keyboard,
sending output to the display screen,
keeping track of files and directory on the disk,
controlling the peripheral devices such as disk drives
and printers.”
It manages wireless operations and controls all
software
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/o/operating_system.html
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Great Idea: Operating System
The Operating System is:
 Coordinates operations so that programs
running at the same time seem to have total
access to the machine and not “bump” into
each other
 It manages resources
 Coordinates between users on multiuser
systems
 It is the computers traffic-cop
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/o/operating_system.html
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Look and Feel of a Desktop – what we call Windows
A little history –
 First personal computer designed to be used by
“ordinary” folks was the Apple II released in 1977
 It sold very well because it was bundled with a
program called VisiCalc the first ever electronic
spreadsheet
 It did NOT have a “desktop”
 “Command” line operation
 Black screen, white letters
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Apple II (1978)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Macintosh (1984)
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The first computer to have the
“look and feel” of current systems
was the Macintosh
“The computer for the rest of us!”
Screen had icons to represent
tasks
Black characters on white
background
Designed for ease of use
Mac popularized the graphical user
interface
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8jSzLAJn6k
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Great Idea: Graphical User Interface
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The user interactive portion of the operating system
that lets uses images, color and mouse clicks to
make interacting with a computer more “user
friendly.”
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Multimedia
Combines text, graphics, images, sound to make interacting
easier
Tries to map virtual onto physical, easy to use
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9z8y4JfhPs&feature=related
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Microsoft Windows
First there was DOS:
 In 1966 IBM mainframe computer operating system
was called DOS – for Disk Operating System
 In 1978 the Apple II is released with it’s own DOS
(Apple-DOS).
 When IBM introduced its first personal computer in
1981 it came with an operating system called MSDOS for Microsoft Disk Operating System
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Microsoft Windows
Then there was Windows:
In 1984 the Macintosh was released. It was the first
machine with a graphical-user-interface and a mouse.
 Microsoft Windows is Microsoft’s operating system
designed by Microsoft, initially to run on IBM PC, and
it incorporated the idea of a graphical-user-interface.
 The first Microsoft version of Windows was
introduced in 1985 an add-on to MS-DOS in response
to the growing interest in graphical-user-interface.
(popularity of the first Macs)
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Microsoft Windows
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Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's
personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS,
which had been introduced previously.
Apple sued Microsoft over the “look-and-feel” of it’s
operation system – it’s easy of use overall look
Microsoft clearly copied the Apple’s “look-and-feel”
Apple lost the suit!
Why?
If it was clearly a copy, why would Apple lose?
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
Apple vs Microsoft
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The graphically oriented original MacOS was in
part based Lisa an Apple computer that never
become popular and was released in 1983.
The Lisa was based in part on concepts used by
Xerox who for a time had a partial ownership
share in Apple.
Xerox  Lisa  Macintosh  Microsoft Windows
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner
What is the computer “desktop”?
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Windows 98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jij5Nzh2Sj4&feature
=related
Microsoft Comercial early 90s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvX5SFFs3cI&featur
e=related
Mac vs PC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GWYaviIzCU&featu
re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcqzaMtwQWk&feat
ure=related
Mac vs. PC vs. Linix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42YGj20qO8U&feat
ure=related
Copyright © 2008 by Helene G. Kershner