Q: When is a GUI a WIMP? A: When it's sitting on the Desktop.
By Chris Birch.
Copyright (c) 1990 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
GUI is the latest buzz-word in the non-apple computer world these days. Everybody wants to embrace the Graphical User Interface mode which offers a more Mac like feel.
Put simply, the GUI means the computer user ("user") looks at graphics and works with graphics on the screen. Any text will embellish the graphics and the user controls the computer by manipulating graphics.
The GUI has been around the Apple world for years now and is quite passe. Buzz-words in the Apple community today may very well be "System 7.0", "Hypercard GS" or "TrueType". The closest equivalent to a GUI in the Apple world is the WIMPy interface of the IIgs and Mac, with WIMP standing for Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointers.
The common manifestation of the WIMPy interface, as recommended by Apple, is known as the Desktop. It's the familiar "point and click" of the screen pointer and mouse that all Mac and IIgs users are used to. The desktop is a graphics based screen and herein lies the difference between a GUI and the Desktop.
Apple's WIMPy computers were developed from the metal on the PCBs, to the internal busing to the Desktop as total WIMPy machines. The mouse is as much a part of the Mac or IIgs as a menu, a window or even the operating system.
Microsoft's Windows 3.0 GUI is merely that. The same IBM machine architecture and disk operating system with graphics, improved memory management (they'll manage to get it right eventually) and application switching added. The graphics sit atop the disk operating system and the silicon. Not totally integrated and working in each others best interests, but Mac like anyway.
To describe Apple's Desktop as a GUI then is misleading. It implies that all the graphical elements sit on top of everything else. Rather, it is just one feature of an integrated whole. If you like, the computer is the GUI and not just the application which is running.
The challenge now for Apple is how to respond to the move by IBM to support more Mac like PCs. Windows 3.0 is nothing compared to what IBM's Presentation Manager will eventually offer.
Apple's immediate response was to say "Why not buy a real Mac?". They have also asserted that user's prefer the Desktop and are more productive with the Desktop. They are also becoming more aggressive with their pricing. Definitely a realistic, but short-term strategy.
A long-term strategy must obviously ensure that the Mac remains different from the rest. As IBM moves closer, the Mac must step forward and reassert the lead. The Mac should not step sideways into a niche where it already excels, such as desktop publishing. That would merely be leadership in an APPLICATIONS field.
The key to retaining their lead is mainly what got them there in the first place. We can only speculate that Apple are racing ahead with developing the next generation of user interfaces, perhaps trying to merge the distinction between specific applications, the user interface and the user.
But there is scope too for Apple to expand its market share into other fields. The home computer market, although small, could be dominated by Apple with a little more marketing effort. They don't need new CPUs to win here.
How sweet it would be for Apple if they could kill off, once again, IBM's intended foray into this market. Could IBM seriously compete with a real Apple challenge from the Apple IIgs and a low-end Mac? Certainly not with the IBM PC Jr Mk II.

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