Ars Technica: A History of the GUI

“Today, almost everybody in the developed world interacts with
personal computers in some form or another. We use them at home and
at work, for entertainment, information, and as tools to leverage
our knowledge and intelligence. It is pretty much assumed whenever
anyone sits down to use a personal computer that it will operate
with a graphical user interface. We expect to interact with it
primarily using a mouse, launch programs by clicking on icons, and
manipulate various windows on the screen using graphical controls.
But this was not always the case. Why did computers come to adopt
the GUI as their primary mode of interaction, and how did the GUI
evolve to be the way it is today…?”

Complete
Story