Graphical environment of an operating system. The Windows and Macintosh operating systems use a GUI.
UNIX and DOS are command line operating systems.
An acronym for
Graphical
User
Interface, this term refers to a software front-end meant to provide an attractive and easy to use interface between a computer user and application, which historically gave rise to the icon-based operating system of Apple Corporation computers. The GUI concept actually had its origins in Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the early 1970s. However, it was Apple Corporation who eventually exploited the technology that is now the fundamental basis of Mac, Windows, and other GUI operating systems that perform commands based upon bit-mapped graphics icons. This paved the way for object-oriented systems of the 1990s. (See also
Mac and
Windows ) A decade of the revolution in GUI and hypermedia Mac computing is celebrated in a book by
Levy (1994) that is given an extensive review in Time Magazine, January 31, 1994, pp. 93-94. (See also
America Online )
A GUI (pronounced "gooey") is a graphics-based interface that lets you access programs by pointing to icons, buttons, and windows rather than by typing a string of commands at a command prompt.
