In the era of the command line, you almost needed to have read the manual cover-to-cover or have previously mastered a computer language even to use the damn things. You had to know how to use a computer before you could use a computer. This problem was solved by the invention of the GUI, or graphical user interface. Computers were humanized by graphics, by colors, by friendly icons and drop-down menus and a cute little tool called a mouse. Now when you sat in front of a computer, you could grab the mouse and just—click. You didn’t have to know anything beforehand. You could learn how to use
...more
