In 1981, The Xerox Star brought computers to the masses, and while its commercial success was limited, its influence became the bedrock of the digital age, steering computing away from cryptic command lines and into the visual, intuitive era we take for granted today. the bedrock of the digital age, steering computing away from cryptic command lines and into the visual, intuitive era we take for granted today.
The key concept of the user interface is to mimic the office model as closely as possible and make it intuitive for the user. The concept of “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) was considered the most important. Text is displayed in black on a white background, just like paper. This “desktop metaphor” was not only user-friendly, it was revolutionary. It popularized computing, made it accessible to non-programmers, and laid the groundwork for the PC to become a productivity tool rather than a niche machine.
Overall, The Xerox Star brought computers into the world of the common people, albeit at a high price, but it was just the beginning of a trend that paved the way for the present, and the future, where computers are available to everyone and computers are no longer just for programmers.