Desktop metaphor

Other features such as menu bars or taskbars have no direct counterpart on a real-world desktop, though this may vary by environment and the function provided; for instance, a familiar wall calendar can sometimes be displayed or otherwise accessed via a taskbar or menu bar belonging to the desktop.

The use of window controls to contain related information predates the desktop metaphor, with a primitive version appearing in Douglas Engelbart's "Mother of All Demos",[4] though it was incorporated by PARC in the environment of the Smalltalk language.

Built as a cartridge for the Commodore 64 home computer in 1983, a very primitive GUI presented a low resolution sketch of a desktop, complete with telephone, drawers, calculator, etc.

The Magic Desk I program featured a typewriter graphically emulated complete with audio effects.

The first computer to popularise the desktop metaphor, using it as a standard feature over the earlier command-line interface was the Apple Macintosh in 1984.

For example, external hard drives appeared on the 'desktop', while internal ones were accessed clicking on an icon representing the computer itself.

The paper paradigm consists of, usually, black text on a white background, files within folders, and a "desktop".

Non-spatial file browsing, as well, may confuse novice users, as they can often have more than one window representing the same folder open at the same time, something that is impossible in reality.