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In the 90s, as I remember it, Macs didn’t have anything called a directory, while Windows and Unix-based OSes had only directories (at least among geeks). I st
by dgreensp 4y ago
In the 90s, as I remember it, Macs didn’t have anything called a directory, while Windows and Unix-based OSes had only directories (at least among geeks). I still use “directory” today if it’s in a Windows, Linux, or general context; “folder” in a Mac context. But I guess Windows switched to “folder” too at some point. But also, Macs are now BSD-based and I’m a programmer, so it’s directories when talking about command-line stuff.
Windows got “folder” by way of Macs, I’m pretty sure,
- steve1977 4y agoWindows got “windows” by way of Macs, so that’s not very surprising.
- ahartmetz 4y agoBoth got "windows" by way of Xerox.
- steve1977 4y agoI'm not sure how much Windows was directly influenced by the work of Xerox and not by Mac OS (also considering MS was basically on board on the Macintosh from day one). Let's say Apple paved the way for Microsoft in terms of economic viability of a GUI ;)
- twoodfin 4y agoI was surprised to learn that the most direct lineage of the “folder” metaphor in Windows 95 (the first Windows which featured it in its modern form) was likely via NeXTStep. This is derived from Steve Sinofsky’s excellent Substack[1], which walks carefully through the history of Windows 4.0/Chicago/95 and unambiguously describes Gates’ competitive target as NeXT & Jobs. Once I read this, it was hard to un-see how obviously Win95 was inspired by NeXTStep in both design and aesthetics. [1] https://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/ https://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/
- karmakaze 4y agoEverything ultimately came from Xerox starting with icons in 1975 and the entire Xerox Star system with folders in 1981. [0] https://www.howtogeek.com/769913/the-computer-folder-is-40-how-the-xerox-star-created-the-desktop/ https://www.howtogeek.com/769913/the-computer-folder-is-40-h...
- 8bitsrule 4y agoYep, after Jobs visited PARC, there was no stopping him. Next thing you know, the C-64 had GEOS.
- karmakaze 4y agoBut if we're giving credit, we can't leave out Douglas Engelbart's "The Mother of all Demos"[0] in 1968. > The live demonstration featured the introduction of a complete computer hardware and software system called the oN-Line System or, more commonly, NLS. The 90-minute presentation demonstrated for the first time many of the fundamental elements of modern personal computing: windows, hypertext, graphics, efficient navigation and command input, video conferencing, the computer mouse, word processing, dynamic file linking, revision control, and a collaborative real-time editor. Engelbart's presentation was the first to publicly demonstrate all of these elements in a single system. The demonstration was highly influential and spawned similar projects at Xerox PARC in the early 1970s. But I don't think it had manila folders, or called them as such. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos
- steve1977 4y agoYeah I always felt the window decorations (close and minimize buttons) in Windows 95 clearly “took a hint” from NeXTSTEP.
- wrycoder 4y agoYes, it came in with Macs. I was mildly annoyed at the time.
- karmakaze 4y agoThe manila folder icon was in both Windows 3.0 (and earlier) as well as OS/2 1.x so routinely called folders then too. Dir, folder, directory were all acceptable though different people had their preferences. I think I usually said dir being so used to seeing <DIR>.