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From: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Xerox/Mac/??? Interface question
Summary: Who "invented" icons for files (which when clicked on...
Message-ID: <21552@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 31 Dec 89 00:34:08 GMT
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Reply-To: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta)
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Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
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In the long-running discussion about who gets credit for what, someone
mentioned that icons first (or at least very early) appeared at PARC,
then showed up in the Mac Finder.  I would like to know more details
about this.  As I see it, there are three things that could be lumped under
the term "icons":

   1. Iconic representation of files (ala Mac)
   2. Iconic representation of closed windows (running processes) (ala Sun)
   3. Automatic selection of a program to process a file when the file
      is selected (ala Mac and even Windows)

Does anyone out there have more info on the earliest appearance of each
of these concepts?
--


Wayne Folta          (folta@cs.umd.edu  128.8.128.8)