Retrotechnology Media – Typewritten Software

💥 Check out this must-read post from Hacker News 📖

📂 **Category**:

💡 **What You’ll Learn**:

1983 • 640 × 400 PNG (6 KB)

VisiCorp Visi On

Screen capture: Turbo XT Clone — Visi On 1.0

This screenshot has been line-doubled to correct its aspect ratio,
so it appears here as it does on the system monitor.

1984 • 1152 × 900 PNG (66 KB)

SunTools desktop

Screen capture: Sun 2/120 — SunOS 1.1

1984 • 1152 × 900 PNG (41 KB)

SunTools desktop

Screen capture: Sun 2/120 — SunOS 1.1

1985 • 512 × 256 PNG (6 KB)

HP Integral PC

Screen capture: HP Integral PC — HP-UX 5.0/RO, with additional
tools and applications running from attached 7946A.

1985 • 1152 × 900 PNG (29 KB)

SunTools desktop

Screen capture: Sun 2/50 — SunOS 2.0

1985 • 320 × 200 GIF (7 KB)

IBM 4-Color CGA Graphics

Screen capture: IBM PC video game (‘Alleycat’)

1985 • 640 × 350 PNG (5 KB)

GEM Desktop 1.2

Screen capture: GEM Desktop 1.2 in 16-color EGA mode.

This version of GEM for the IBM PC was the last to be
released before Apple prevailed against DRI in its
seminal “look and feel” lawsuit.

1985 • 640 × 350 PNG (8 KB)

GEM Draw 1.0

Screen capture: GEM Draw 1.0 in 16-color EGA mode, with sample drawing loaded.

Along with GEM Write and GEM Paint, GEM Draw was among the
first applications available at the premiere of GEM Desktop
on the IBM PC.

1987 • 640 × 512 PNG (8 KB)

Arthur 0.30

Screen capture: Acorn Archimedes A310 — Arthur 0.30 Desktop, with
sample desk accessories running.

The red window frame doesn’t indicate the active window, but rather that
there is unsaved data in the Note-Pad desk accessory.

1987 • 640 × 512 PNG (8 KB)

Arthur 1.20

Screen capture: Acorn Archimedes A440 — Arthur 1.20 Desktop, with
sample desk accessories running.

Arthur 0.30 lasted barely more than three months before being replaced by
Arthur 1.20. The system is still very rudimentary, but if you squint, you can
see some maturity just beginning to happen.

1987 • 640 × 400 PNG (61 KB)

NewTek Digi-Paint

Screen capture: Amiga 2000 running NewTek Digi-Paint with sample image loaded.

Digi-Paint was one of the first paint programs to make use of the Amiga’s
4096-color HAM display modes. This demo image included with the program was
probably digitized using NewTek’s earlier product, Digi-View. On the surface
it seems a somewhat odd choice, as HAM provides no benefit to a grayscale image.

Digi-Paint also takes full advantage of the Amiga’s ability to define multiple
logical screens, which may be displayed on the monitor simultaneously. The
individual screens are as follows, and have each been modified as described so the
composited image depicts how the program actually appears on the system monitor:

Canvas — 320 × 400 pixel, 4096 color HAM6.
– capture has been line-doubled in the horizontal dimension.
Menu — 640 × 200 pixel, 4 color.
– capture has been line-doubled in the vertical dimension.
Tool palette — 320 × 200 pixel, 4096 color HAM6.
– capture has been doubled in both dimensions.

1987 • 1025 × 864 PNG (20 KB)

VAX Workstation Software (VWS)

Screen capture: DEC VAXstation 2000 with 8-plane GPX graphics, running
DEC VWS 3.3 (UIS) under MicroVMS 4.6, with configuration menu, help, and VT200
emulator windows open.

In the early days of the VAX workstation, VWS (also known as UIS) was the
graphical interface available to VMS users. There is a VT200 emulator (with and
without support for ReGIS graphics), a Tektronix 4014 emulator, and not much
else besides. The default background on color displays is 50% gray (I fiddled
with it to make it purple).

1987 • 801 × 601 PNG (16 KB)

GEM – Xerox Ventura Publisher 1.1

Screen capture: Xerox Ventura Publisher 1.1 on Renaissance GRX
Rendition-I display adapter, with sample document loaded.

Ventura Publisher was one of a few early PC software
packages intended to demonstrate that the burgeoning
desktop publishing industry wasn’t to be the exclusive
demesne of the Macintosh. It was a serious enough contender
to have inspired development and driven adoption of an early round
of first-generation high resolution display systems for the PC, of
which the Rendition was among the better-rounded.

Eventually, Ventura Publisher would be re-written to run on Microsoft
Windows, but it was originally written for DRI’s GEM environment, as shown
here.

1987 • 1024 × 768 PNG (57 KB)

IRIS Multiple Exposure (mex)

Screen capture: SGI IRIS 3130 — GL2-W3.6 with sample mex tools running.

1987 • 1152 × 900 PNG (28 KB)

SunTools desktop

Screen capture: Sun 3/60 — SunOS 3.5

1987 • 1152 × 900 PNG (36 KB)

Frame Maker 1.0

Screen capture: Sun 3/60 — SunOS 3.5

1988 • 960 × 768 PNG (17 KB)

RISC OS 2.00

Screen capture: Acorn Archimedes A440 showing the RISC OS 2.00 desktop with applications running.

The Acorn VIDC has been programmed for a non-standard, 960 × 384 pixel, 16-color display
mode using the !NewModes module. This screenshot has been line-doubled to
correct its aspect ratio, so it appears here as it does on the system monitor.

1988 • 640 × 480 PNG (6 KB)

GEM Desktop 3.0

Screen capture: GEM Desktop 3.0 in 16-color VGA mode.

This is what happened to GEM after Apple prevailed against
DRI in its seminal “look and feel” lawsuit. Icons on the
desktop (including a Trash can) and up to four overlapping
windows replaced by two fixed, tiled windows, arranged as
you see here. Either window can be “maximized” so it
occupies the entire display, but neither can be otherwise
resized or moved. Lame.

1988 • 640 × 480 PNG (13 KB)

GEM Paint 2.01

Screen capture: GEM Paint 2.01 in 16-color VGA mode, with sample drawing loaded.

1988 • 1024 × 768 PNG (18 KB)

OS/2 Presentation Manager

Screen capture: OS/2 1.1 Extended Edition on 8514/A display, showing
control panel and OS/2 command prompt window.

1988 • 1024 × 512 PNG (21 KB)

Windows/286 Presentation Manager

Screen capture: Compaq Deskpro 286 & Renaissance GRX Rendition-I — Windows/286 2.1, showing
Aldus Pagemaker 3.0 and Corel Draw 1.10 in 64 colors under Presentation Manager.

The aspect ratio of this screenshot has not been corrected. It appears here one-third shorter than it
does on the screen (the thumbnail image at left shows the correct aspect ratio).

1988 • 1024 × 768 PNG (11 KB)

HP NewWave Office

Screen capture: HP NewWave Office version A.01.00 on 8514/A display adapter
— an object-oriented desktop for Windows 2.1

1988 • 1024 × 768 PNG (12 KB)

AIX 2.2.1

Screen capture: IBM 6150 RT PC with Extended Monochrome Display, showing AIXwm & AIXterm.

1988 • 1152 × 900 PNG (46 KB)

Network Extensible Window System

Screen capture: Sun 3/60 — SunOS 3.5, showing unbundled NeWS environment.

Though SunView emulation is provided so the standard SunOS SunView applications
will work, the display server is Postscript only. This predates the merged NeWS
+ X11 display server from the early OpenWindows releases.

1988 • 1152 × 900 PNG (28 KB)

SunView

Screen capture: Sun 386i/250 — SunOS 4.0.2, showing SunView interface with DOS PC session active.

1988 • 1024 × 864 PNG (24 KB)

ULTRIX Worksystem Software (UWS)

Screen capture: DEC VAXstation 2000 with 8-plane GPX graphics, running
UWS 1.1 (ULTRIX 2.2-1 plus X10R4), with xclock, xcolors, xmh, and xterms running.

The title bars on xterm are not provided by the window manager; xwm itself
does not draw any windows. Window operations are performed by holding down
meta keys on the keyboard while clicking the various mouse buttons.

1988 • 1149 × 861 PNG (21 KB)

Xerox Viewpoint 2.0

Screen capture: Xerox 6085 with optional PCE board, showing Viewpoint 2.0 desktop and running PC Emulator.

1989 • 1024 × 768 PNG (614 KB)

Media Logic Artisan

Screen capture: SGI IRIS 3130 — GL2-W3.6, showing the Media Logic Artisan paint program.

1989 • 1152 × 900 PNG (36 KB)

SunPaint 1.0

Screen capture: Sun 3/60 — SunOS 3.5, showing OPEN LOOK interface on SunView.

1989 • 1152 × 900 PNG (36 KB)

SunWrite 1.0

Screen capture: Sun 3/60 — SunOS 3.5, showing OPEN LOOK interface on SunView.

1989 • 1152 × 900 PNG (48 KB)

OpenWindows 1.0 Pre-FCS

Screen capture: Sun 4/110 — SunOS 4.0.3, showing prerelease version of
unbundled OpenWindows environment.

1989 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (38 KB)

OS/2 Presentation Manager

Screen capture: IBM PS/2 8580-311 & Image Adapter/A — OS/2 1.2 Extended Edition, showing
Aldus Pagemaker under Presentation Manager.

1989 • 1024 × 768 GIF (48 KB)

Windows/386 Presentation Manager

Screen capture: Compaq Deskpro 386 & Western Digital Paradise 8514/A+ — Windows/386 2.11, showing
Aldus Pagemaker 3.0 and Corel Draw 1.10 in 256 colors under Presentation Manager.

When the display offers more than 16 colors, Windows 2.1 implements its color palette as if it were a
direct-color visual. With 256 colors, there is a wrinkle: eight bits of color depth can’t be evenly divided
between three primary colors and so blue draws the short straw (RRRGGGBB). This causes certain screen
elements which should appear in neutral gray to have a brown or violet tint. The effect is
quite apparent when comparing against the 64-color (RRGGBB) Rendition-I screenshot above or the 256-color
Windows 3.0 and OS/2 2.1 screenshots below (color gradient fills preview as grayscale in Corel Draw 1.x).

1989 • 1120 × 832 PNG (49 KB)

NeXTstep 1.0

Screen capture: NeXT computer showing Workspace Manager, original Column Browser &
sample applications.

1989 • 1024 × 768 PNG (27 KB)

SCO OpenDesktop 1.0.0y

Screen capture: Compaq Deskpro 386/25 with Orchid ProDesigner Plus VGA and
SCO OpenDesktop 1.0.0y, showing the Locus Computing Xhibit 1.0 desktop
in 16 colors on the Locus Xsight (X11R3) server with manual page, editor,
UNIX shell, and file browser with context-sensitive pop-up menu active.

I had understood that the very earliest versions of OpenDesktop had used an
X11 desktop environment other than IXI X.desktop. In fact it does use Locus’
Xhibit, but this product is itself a rebranded X.desktop.

1990 • 1024 × 864 PNG (32 KB)

DECwindows (Ultrix)

Screen capture: DECstation 3100 showing DECwindows on Ultrix 4.0, with
DECterm displaying sixel graphics and clock windows open.

1990 • 1024 × 768 PNG (25 KB)

IBM Academic Operating System

Screen capture: IBM 6152 Academic System (“Crossbow”) — AOS/4.3, showing X11R4
environment on the 8514/A display adapter

AOS/4.3 was originally released with X11R2, but there were so many serious bugs
in X11 on the RT platform that it amounted to little more than an exercise in
massive frustration until X11R4, eighteen months later. X11R4 also introduced
the twm window manager (replacing uwm) and the XSHAPE extension,
demonstrated here by the xeyes and oclock applications.

1990 • 1152 × 870 PNG (19 KB)

A/UX 2.0.1

Screen capture: Macintosh IIci, showing the A/UX Finder and command shell.

1990 • 1152 × 900 PNG (26 KB)

RISC iX 1.21

Screen capture: Acorn Archimedes A440/1, showing the RISC iX X.desktop
in an MIT X11 session.

The 1.2 release of Acorn RISC iX has been substantially enhanced over earlier versions.
Unfortunately, the A440/1 (actually an A410/1 with a full complement of RAM fitted)
struggles to cope with the enlarged system. The machine is functionally identical to the
official R140 model, but with its 8 MHz ARM2, maximum of 4 MB RAM, 32 KB page size,
and memory-bandwidth-stealing framebuffer, the performance situation is shocking.

Upon starting X11, the user is invited to select either an MIT or a Motif session. Selecting
Motif, however, causes things to go from “dire” to “apocalyptic”.

1990 • 1016 × 768 PNG (12 KB)

TI microExplorer

Screen capture: microExplorer for the Macintosh II version 6.09, showing Lisp
boot and initial user login.

Notice the status area at the bottom of the screen, which shows information
about the state of the Lisp system, and help text pertinent to the immediate
user activity—in this case, the syntax of the in-progress LOGIN command.

1990 • 1016 × 768 PNG (10 KB)

TI microExplorer

Screen capture: microExplorer for the Macintosh II version 6.09, showing the
Lisp Namespace Editor.

Notice the status area at the bottom of the screen, which shows information
about the state of the Lisp system, and help text pertinent to the immediate user
activity—in this case, instructions for interacting with the ZMacs Save/Kill
Buffers window.

1990 • 1024 × 768 PNG (28 KB)

Microsoft Windows 3.0

Screen capture: Compaq Deskpro 386 & Western Digital Paradise 8514/A+ — Windows 3.0, showing
CorelDRAW! 2.01 in 256 colors.

CorelDRAW! 2 takes full advantage of the Palette Manager to make the best use of all colors available
from the hardware (262,144 of them, in the case of VGA and 8514/A). This feature was newly-introduced
for Windows 3.0 and replaced the static direct-color–style visual from Windows 2.1. Compare the
Windows/386 screenshot above, made using the same hardware and CorelDRAW! data file.

1990 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (26 KB)

HP NewWave Office

Screen capture: HP NewWave Office version A.03.00 on #9 GXi TC display adapter
— an object-oriented desktop for Windows 3.0

1990 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (39 KB)

HP Windows/9000

Screen capture: HP 9000/380 with CH (“Catseye Hi-Res”) 8-plane color framebuffer
& HP-UX 7.05, showing HP Windows/9000 desktop environment with multiple terminal
sessions, softkeys, and windowed Starbase graphics library demo.

1991 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (27 KB)

AIXwindows PS/2 Desktop (Motif)

Screen capture: IBM PS/2 8580-311 & Image Adapter/A — AIX PS/2 v1.2.1, showing optional
AIXwindows Desktop environment.

1991 • 1280 × 960 PNG (30 KB)

WISh2 X11 Shell (Motif)

Screen capture: Atari TT030 — Atari System V Release 4 version 1.1-06

1991 • 1024 × 768 PNG (108 KB)

System V Release 4 Amiga Version 1.1

Screen capture: Amiga 3000UX — X11R3 (Open Look)

1991 • 1024 × 768 PNG (25 KB)

Amiga Workbench 2.04

Screen capture: Amiga 3000UX — Workbench 2.04 in 16 colors on the A2410 EGS display.

1991 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (40 KB)

Apollo Desktop Environment

Screen capture: Apollo DN5500 with Matrox PG1281/AP 8-plane color framebuffer & DOMAIN/OS SR10.3.5,
showing Aegis shell, node performance statistics, and DPCC IBM PC coprocessor product.

1991 • 800 × 600 PNG (16 KB)

Geoworks Ensemble 1.2

Screen capture: ALR Evolution/IV & ATI Mach32 EISA.

1991 • 1024 × 768 PNG (82 KB)

OS-9/68k G-Windows with G-Desktop

Screen capture: Peripheral Technologies PT68K4 with Tseng ET4000 &
OS-9/68000 Pro V2.4, showing the G-Windows R2.2 Desktop environment.

The PT68K4 has substantially more horsepower than the original Macintosh
but G-Windows still feels much slower to use. Text scrolling in terminal
windows lacks any sense of urgency, and window redraws in particular
take several seconds to finish. As a user, it falls into that awkward valley
of too slow to really want to use all the time but not so hopelessly slow
as to be pointless. It wouldn’t be nearly such a disappointment if the
system didn’t feel so much more responsive at the standard command line.

1992 • 800 × 600 PNG (13 KB)

RISC OS 3.10

Screen capture: Acorn Archimedes A5000 showing the RISC OS 3.10 desktop with applications running.

1992 • 1024 × 768 PNG (25 KB)

SCO OpenDesktop 1.1.1g

Screen capture: Compaq Deskpro 386/25 with Compaq Advanced Graphics 1024 TIGA display adapter and
SCO OpenDesktop 1.1.1g, showing the Locus Computing Xhibit 2.0 desktop
in 256 colors on the Locus Xsight (X11R3) server with Microsoft Word for UNIX,
UNIX shell, and file browser with context-sensitive pop-up menu active.

This is a small upgrade from OpenDesktop 1.0.0y. The main improvement involves added support
for new graphics cards, including some accelerated models offering 256 color modes
such as the AG1024. Under the covers, UNIX is updated from System V/386 3.2.1 to 3.2v2.0.

1992 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (31 KB)

DECwindows (VMS)

Screen capture: VAXstation 3100m76 SPX, showing DECwindows on VMS 5.5-2,
with editor and interactive STSC APL*Plus, DCL, and VAX LISP sessions open.

There is a minor unresolved glitch with the APL font installation, causing
an incomplete set of APL characters to be available. I have not yet determined
how to resolve it.

1992 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (28 KB)

HP VUE

Screen capture: HP 9000/380 with CH (“Catseye Hi-Res”) 8-plane color framebuffer
& HP-UX 9.00, showing HP VUE desktop environment.

It’s easy to see how much VUE inspired the later Common Desktop Environment (CDE).

1992 • 1152 × 900 PNG (41 KB)

SunView Environment (Solbourne)

Screen capture: Solbourne 5e/502 — OS/MP 4.1A.3

1992 • 1152 × 900 PNG (31 KB)

VisualWorks 1.00 for SPARCstation

Screen capture: SPARCstation 2 GS running ParcPlace VisualWorks Smalltalk
for SPARC SunOS 4 under OpenWindows Version 3.

1993 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (69 KB)

Perihelion Helios 1.31 for Transputer Workstation

Screen capture: Inmos B008 Transputer System with B419-4 Integrated Graphics TRAM
and Perihelion Helios 1.31, showing active Transputer network with Mandelbrot set.

1993 • 1024 × 768 PNG (26 KB)

XSoft GlobalView WorksPlus 1.0 for Microsoft Windows

Screen capture: Xerox GlobalView environment running under Windows for Workgroups
3.11, showing example document, contents of Auxiliary Files subfolder, and partial
keyboard map.

1993 • 1152 × 870 PNG (25 KB)

A/UX 3.0.1

Screen capture: Macintosh Quadra 650,
showing the A/UX Finder, online documentation, command shell, and sample X clients.

1993 • 1024 × 768 PNG (137 KB)

NeXTstep 3.1 Prerelease 1 for Intel Processors

Screen capture: ALR BusinessVEISA with NeXTstep 3.1 Prerelease 1,
showing the Workspace Manager, intel hardware configuration app, and terminal window.

This may look like a finished product, but it has quite a few sharp edges. The HCL that
accompanied the released product was minuscule; the one that accompanied the prerelease is
downright microscopic.

The screenshot has been gamma-corrected so it more closely resembles what appears on the system monitor.

1993 • 1120 × 832 PNG (170 KB)

NeXTstep 3.1 for Intel Processors

Screen capture: ALR Evolution IV/e with NeXTstep 3.1,
showing the Workspace Manager, intel hardware configuration app, and molecular visualization demo.

This is the first commercial release of NeXTstep which was not tied to the Motorola 68000-series NeXT hardware.
It has a couple visual quirks; several of the system icons have not yet been modified to show generic
beige-box PC hardware.

The screenshot has been gamma-corrected so it more closely resembles what appears on the system monitor.

1993 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (27 KB)

SCO OpenDesktop 3

Screen capture: ALR Evolution IV/e with SCO OpenDesktop 3.0.0,
showing the IXI X.desktop, UNIX shell, and DOS Merge session.

1993 • 1152 × 870 PNG (14 KB)

Symbolics Genera 8

Screen capture: Symbolics MacIvory 2 workstation (Macintosh IIfx) with Genera 8.3,
showing Lisp boot and initial user login.

Note the contextual help (“forms”) provided inline, when typing commands into the
Lisp Listener window.

1993 • 1152 × 870 PNG (15 KB)

Symbolics Genera 8

Screen capture: Symbolics MacIvory 2 workstation (Macintosh IIfx) with Genera 8.3,
showing the Lisp Namespace Editor.

Note the contextual help (“forms”) provided inline, when typing commands into the
Namespace Editor command window, and the form-based interface provided for making
changes to the loaded object record.

1993 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (21 KB)

IBM OS/2 2.1

Screen capture: ALR Evolution IV & ATI Mach32 VLB — OS/2 2.1, showing
desktop session and 32-bit CorelDRAW! 2.5 in 256 colors.

OS/2 2.1’s dithering algorithms aren’t especially sophisticated, but even so comparing this
screenshot with the Windows 3.0 one above makes clear the appalling job Windows does at producing
dithered colors.

1993 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (37 KB)

IXI X.desktop

Screen capture: Data General AViiON 310CD & DG/UX 5.4R3.00, showing
WordPerfect 5.1 with sample document in active X.desktop session.

1994 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (30 KB)

AIXwindows Version 2

Screen capture: RS/6000 7012-390 & AIX 3.2.5, showing AIXwindows V2 desktop.

1994 • 1152 × 910 PNG (127 KB)

fvwm (linux)

Screen capture: Slackware Linux 1.1.2 (kernel 0.99pl15), showing active fvwm
session with the ATI Mach32 accelerated Xfree86 server.

This was my first introduction to linux. I spent weeks downloading and writing
images to floppy disk—getting it wrong, doing it again—only to discover
my SCSI host adapter wasn’t supported. 24 years later, I finally managed to get it
installed on something.

1994 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (89 KB)

Visix Looking Glass Professional v2.2

Screen capture: SunSoft INTERACTIVE UNIX v4.1, showing active Looking Glass
session.

1994 • 800 × 599 PNG (25 KB)

Hobbit BeBox

Screen capture: Prototype BeBox running the Be Browser graphical interface.

This late Hobbit developer snapshot predates the official naming of BeOS and is
contemporaneous with the beginnings of the effort to port the system software to
PowerPC.

1994 • 800 × 599 PNG (16 KB)

Hobbit BeBox

Screen capture: Prototype BeBox running a sample application making use of the
telephony API.

This late Hobbit developer snapshot predates the official naming of BeOS and
is contemporaneous with the beginnings of the effort to port the system software to
PowerPC.

1995 • 1024 × 768 PNG (127 KB)

Macintosh System 7.5 Update 2.0

Screen capture: Macintosh IIci with SuperMac Spectrum/24 IV display adapter
& System 7.5.3.

1995 • 832 × 624 PNG (41 KB)

Macintosh System 8.0d9 (“Copland”)

Screen capture: Power Macintosh 8100/80.

This is the D9 release of Copland, November 1995. Screen shows KernelView
application running, providing some statistics from the Copland kernel.

Irrelevant: I had a Sun Microsystems fleece pullover about this time which had
the same color and overall texture as this desktop wallpaper.

1995 • 832 × 624 PNG (37 KB)

Macintosh System 8.0d9 (“Copland”)

Screen capture: Power Macintosh 8100/80.

This is the D9 release of Copland, November 1995. Screen shows the “improved” File
Open dialog. This part of the OS seems especially unstable, despite the prominence
with which Apple touted this part of Copland’s design. Just navigating the files
and folders in this interface will frequently cause the whole machine to lock up
tight.

1995 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (41 KB)

OS/2 Warp 3 for PowerPC

Screen capture: unmodified IBM PowerPersonal Workstation type 7248, model 132.

Just another unfinished chapter in the epic tragedy of advanced operating systems on PowerPC.

Surprisingly, while there is a working x86 translation layer for MS-DOS and Windows sessions, OS/2
applications must be PowerPC native.

1995 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (40 KB)

Sony NEWS Desk (Motif)

Screen capture: Sony NWS-3860 & NEWS OS 4.2.1R, showing NEWS Desk
desktop environment with terminal windows and other applications.

1995 • 1664 × 1248 PNG (45 KB)

Environ V Desktop

Screen capture: Intergraph InterPro 2730 & CLIX SVR3.1 Vr7.5.17, showing
Environ V desktop environment with terminal windows and desk accessory
applications.

1995 • 1664 × 1248 PNG (66 KB)

Microstation 5

Screen capture: Intergraph InterPro 2730 & CLIX SVR3.1 Vr7.5.17, showing
MicroStation 5 in Environ V, with sample drawing loaded.

1995 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (32 KB)

RS/370 VM/ESA 1.11

Screen capture: RS/6000 7012-390 & AIX 3.2.5, showing VM/ESA 370 Feature V1R1M1
in RS/370 environment with 3215 operator console, two 3278 user sessions, and a
signed-off 3278 session showing the standard P/370 login screen.

1995 • 1024 × 864 PNG (102 KB)

DECwindows Motif (Ultrix)

Screen capture: DECstation 5000/200 showing DECwindows Motif on Ultrix 4.5, with
DECterm, file manager, clock, and xv windows open.

It is hilarious to me the painstaking lengths DEC went to to avoid letting
on that the workstation has any color capability at all. Without the xv window
open, there would be only three colors in evidence: the background color, black,
and eight shades of taupe. Xv is not part of the system installation; I had to
compile it just so I could liven up the screenshot a bit.

1995 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (30 KB)

Novell UnixWare Application Server 2.01 (Motif)

Screen capture: ALR Evolution V & UnixWare 2.01, showing X11 desktop
with active DOS Merge and MS Windows sessions.

1995 • 800 × 599 PNG (25 KB)

BeOS 1.1d5

Screen capture: Rev 5 BeBox showing DR5 of the BeOS, with Browser
windows open and minimized application (“Magnify”).

The 1.1d5 release made it into the hands of only the very earliest developers;
it was replaced by 1.1d6 less than a month later. The BeBox icon and window
close box still have the same appearance as in the Hobbit system.

1996 • 800 × 600 PNG (25 KB)

BeOS 1.1d6

Screen capture: Rev 5 BeBox showing DR6 of the BeOS, with Desktop
Background and Screen Resolution preferences open.

1996 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (350 KB)

OPENSTEP 4 Prerelease 2

Screen capture: OPENSTEP for Mach, version 4.0 Prerelease 2.

NEXTSTEP 4 was originally meant to include a new Workspace, with a new visual
appearance, codenamed “Mecca”. They didn’t survive the product transition to
OPENSTEP.

Prerelease 2 still contains the new visual appearance, but only for
applications which have been converted to OPENSTEP. Most of the old NEXTSTEP
apps which are present still have their old look. You can see it most clearly
in this screenshot with the Workspace and Console windows, which retain the
traditional NEXTSTEP appearance. NEXTIME and Interface Builder have been
converted; they show the new gradient menu and titlebars, and the updated
window controls. By the time OPENSTEP 4.0 was released, all traces of the new
look had been removed.

The screenshot has been gamma-corrected so it more closely resembles what appears on the system monitor.

1996 • 1024 × 768 PNG (61 KB)

BeOS 1.1d7

Screen capture: Rev 5 BeBox showing DR7 of the BeOS, with Screen
preferences open and sample applications running.

1996 • 1024 × 768 PNG (49 KB)

Macintosh System 8.0 D11E4 (“Copland”)

Screen capture: Power Macintosh 6100/66.

This is the D11E4 release of Copland, May 1996. Screen shows the Copland Finder,
using the default theme. This release has been significantly changed since D9.
There are many new features, support for new hardware… and some notable
disappearances. The About This Macintosh dialog is not available, the
Appearance control panel has vanished, and if the new-and-improved File Open
dialog is present, I can’t find any applications that expose it.

1996 • 1024 × 768 PNG (49 KB)

Macintosh System 8.0 D11E4 (“Copland”)

Screen capture: Power Macintosh 6100/66.

This is the D11E4 release of Copland, May 1996. Screen shows the Copland Finder,
using the “Z” theme. Despite many demos showing other themes (such as the dark
and shiny “P” theme), as far as I can tell this is the only one they ever
included in an actual developer release. Revolting, isn’t it?

1996 • 1024 × 768 PNG (26 KB)

AIX Common Desktop Environment (CDE) 1.0

Screen capture: Apple Network Server 700/200.

DEC, IBM, HP, and Sun were all offering CDE around this time. They all looked
pretty much exactly alike—thus, “common”. This one is a bit funny because
it’s from an Apple system running IBM’s AIX 4.1.5… from around the same time
they were putting the Finder in clown shoes and trying to make Copland work.

1996 • 1152 × 900 PNG (41 KB)

BeOS DR8.1

Screen capture: Rev 8 BeBox showing DR8.1 of the BeOS, with
TCP/IP preferences open and file copy operation in progress.

1996 • 1152 × 900 PNG (25 KB)

BeIDE DR8.1

Screen capture: Rev 8 BeBox showing the Be Integrated
Development Environment at DR8.1 of the BeOS

1996 • 1024 × 768 PNG (24 KB)

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 for PowerPC

Screen capture: unmodified IBM PowerPersonal Workstation type 7248, model 132

1996 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (30 KB)

Sun Solaris 2.5.1 Limited Access Release, PowerPC Edition (CDE)

Screen capture: unmodified IBM PowerPersonal Workstation type 7248, model 132

1996 • 1152 × 900 PNG (32 KB)

Sun Solaris 2.5.1 x86 (OpenWindows)

Screen capture: i486 EISA clone

1997 • 1152 × 870 PNG (160 KB)

Rhapsody DR1

Screen capture: Power Macintosh 8600/200MP showing Rhapsody DR1 and Interface Builder.

If you think this looks like a mishmash between OPENSTEP and the
classic MacOS… it is. Several of the NextAdmin applications still look exactly the
same as they do in NEXTSTEP, even down to the NeXT-style floating menus. As a showcase of
just how flexible the OPENSTEP Mach codebase was, however, it’s quite impressive.

1997 • 1024 × 768 PNG (33 KB)

BeOS Advanced Access

Screen capture: Rev 8 BeBox showing the AA Preview Release
(DR9) of the BeOS and the first appearance of the Teapot demo.

1997 • 1024 × 768 PNG (33 KB)

BeOS PR2

Screen capture: Rev 8 BeBox showing Preview Release 2 (DR9.1)
of the BeOS, selecting an application from the Be Menu on the Deskbar.

1997 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (106 KB)

RiscOS 3.71

Screen capture: StrongARM Acorn RiscPC showing RiscOS 3.71 and Xerox GlobalView
2.1 for Windows running on the optional i486 DX4 second processor.

1998 • 1024 × 768 PNG (37 KB)

BeOS R3

Screen capture: Rev 8 BeBox showing Release 3 of the BeOS and
the R3 Welcome page in NetPositive.

1998 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (57 KB)

Rhapsody DR2

Screen capture: Power Macintosh G3/266 showing Rhapsody DR2 and Interface Builder.

DR2 consolidates the more jarring elements from the DR1 user interface into a more unified, classic Mac OS look.
It also adds a good deal of basic functionality that was missing from DR1… though its baffling refusal
to allow the selection of any color depth other than 8 bits is a clear step backward.

1999 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (40 KB)

AmigaOS 3.5

Screen capture: Amiga 3000 — AmigaOS 3.5 in 256 colors on the RetinaZ3 display.

1999 • 1280 × 1024 PNG (377 KB)

Mac OS X Server 1.0

Screen capture: Power Macintosh G3/266 showing Mac OS X Server version 1.0.

Visually, almost nothing has changed from Rhapsody DR2. Under the covers, however,
this 1.0 release of OS X Server is finally functional enough that the system could
reasonably be used for something.

1999 • 1600 × 1200 PNG (617 KB)

Mac OS X Developer Preview 2

Screen capture: PowerMac G3 (Blue & White).

This is the last Developer Preview before Aqua made its debut and frankly, there isn’t much
at this point to distinguish it (visually, at least) from the Classic Mac OS. The system is
organized differently, and there are application-related holdovers from the NeXT days, but
otherwise… it might as well be the same old Mac OS. I can’t help but be ambivalent about
that—job well done, but somehow it’s a terrible anti-climax. I can understand now why
they felt that the Aqua effort was necessary.

2000 • 1600 × 1200 PNG (1.2 MB)

Mac OS X Developer Preview 4

Screen capture: PowerMac G3 (Blue & White), with Network Administration tool.

This release is recognizably Aqua, but there are quite a few small but noticeable functional differences from 10.0.

The Special menu is still present in the Finder; it contains the Eject, Shut Down, and Empty Trash items,
just like in Classic Mac OS.
There is no Apple Menu. The Apple logo in the center of the menu bar is just a decoration.
Neither the clock nor the volume control (nor indeed any other UI affordance) may be placed at
the right-hand side of the menu bar.
The Dock has found its basic look, but does not offer contextual menus for its icons, and
uses the NeXT-style ellipsis to indicate a running application. The clock icon is not animated.
An extra control appears at the right-hand side of window title bars. Clicking it causes
the desktop to enter a mode where only the active window is visible; all others are minimized.

2000 • 1600 × 1200 PNG (1.3 MB)

Mac OS X Public Beta “Kodiak”

Screen capture: PowerMac G3 (Blue & White), with QuickTime VR model.

2001 • 1600 × 1200 PNG (1.3 MB)

Mac OS X 10.0 “Cheetah”

Screen capture: PowerMac G3 (Blue & White), with Microsoft Word 5 running in the Classic environment.

This is where the modern GUI began, with its slick visuals and composited effects.
Frankly, it looks a bit over-done, but at the time it was all new and Apple badly needed the attention.

2001 • 1600 × 1200 PNG (1.1 MB)

Mac OS X 10.1 “Puma”

Screen capture: Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White), with iTunes and OmniWeb running.

Mac OS X 10.0 had been four years in the making, but it only survived six months before 10.1 was released. There were much-needed
improvements to performance and stability; new bundled apps such as Acrobat, iTunes, and iMovie made the system more generally useful;
and there were a number of subtle visual tweaks made to reflect the additional maturity. All in all, 10.1 amounts to what would become
“normal” for OS X upgrades.

The system is still somewhere short of “mature”, however. Note, for example, iTunes’ inability as a Carbon application to handle Unicode.
But, it exists. And, it works. Many other applications would follow.