Why is Windows called Windows?

[KoolDrew]

I am just curios about why it si called windows. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[sciencewhiz]

because it lets the bugs in.

 

[wseyller]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
because it lets the bugs in.

lol

I see it having to do with multitasking mutiple applications. You can have multiple windows open in many different ways such as tile or cascaded. In Dos you normally would be able to look at one screen at a time.

 

[MrChad]

It can probably be traced back to the WIMP (Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device) paradigm developed at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.

 

[spyordie007]

it's Microsoft's "Windows Manager"

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I am just curios about why it si called windows. Anyone have any ideas?

i think its the concept of multitasking plus the allusion to seeing out a windows into another world or some bs like that.

 

[Sideswipe001]

I always figured because it allows you to really multitask, and they called the boxes 'windows' that you work in, due to the similarity. It's Windows because you work in 'windows'. Even when you full screen, the OS still looks at it like it's just another window.

 

[Steve]

If they called it Doors, the ghost of Jim Morrison would haunt the nightmares of Bill Gates.

 

[TDiddy]

because throught ur monitor u can see the soul of MS

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: MrChad
It can probably be traced back to the WIMP (Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device) paradigm developed at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.

WIMP? Micro-Soft? Do I see a pattern here? LOL.

 

[spyordie007]

WIMP? Micro-Soft? Do I see a pattern here? LOL.

WIMP is not a Microsoft thing; and they certainly werent the first to make use of it.

Actually I'd say that Apple are really the ones who brought WIMP mainstream.

 

[earthman]

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both at the initial WIMP demonstrations by Xerox. I forget the name of the computer itself, but Xerox was hoping to sell it to colleges and such. There was no big interest commercially at that time (ca. 1979) but it's obvious they both were heavily influenced by it.

 

[drag]

They called it Windows the same reason that they called Word Word and Office Office.

Marketting. You take easily recognizable terms, trademark them by applying them to products that are completely unrelated to their english definitions. It's a common way of doing things. Like calling a car "cougar" or "explorer".

At least that's what they want you to think.

All in all it's pretty stupid. Like in US Patents is shows the legal system's inability to deal with the fast-paced computer world. They should of never been awarded the trademarks.

Microsoft's new word proccessor: Word. Microsofts new office suite: Office. Microsoft's new windowed operating system: Windows.

It's like Ford going:
Fords new automobile: Auto.

Hell people were calling windows windows long before windows ever came out. Mac's GUI pre-dates Windows by several years, and they call those boxes windows. X Windows was out a year after Mac's released their first GUI-based OS and that even uses the term "windows" in the name to denote that it's for a GUI based interface.

That's why Lindows was able to keep it's name for so long before they changed it to Linspire. Lindows is obviously a trademark infrigment on Windows. It's the same name for the same product with one letter changed. However Microsoft could never realy sue them directly on those grounds because if they did it would be more then likely that they would win against Lindows, but get the trademark made null because it's a generic computer term for GUI systems that was in use well before Windows ever came out.

It wasn't until MS successfully sued Linspire in a different country with different standards was when Linspire decided to give up on it's "lets get rich by burning on Microsoft" sceme, and resort to their current "lets turn Linux into the software version of free AOL cdroms" angle of attack.

It's not like it's a big deal, though. It's old news. That's why it's not called "Windows" anymore, but Microsoft Windows 2003, or Windows XP. Always now with extra letters and numbers to show that it's a specificly trademarked term.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
because it lets the bugs in.

Ahaha, most MS jokes are pretty lame, but I love that one

 

[oldman420]

I am just curios about why it si called windows. Anyone have any ideas?

Because you cant close them and they break real easy.

 

[TonyRic]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I am just curios about why it si called windows. Anyone have any ideas?

On November 10, 1983, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Microsoft Corporation formally announced Microsoft Windows, a next-generation operating system that would provide a graphical user interface (GUI) and multitasking environment for IBM computers. Microsoft promised that the new program would be on the shelf by April 1984. It might have been released under the original name of Interface Manager if Microsoft's marketing whiz, Rowland Hanson, had not convinced Microsoft founder Bill Gates that Windows was the better name.

This content was taken from about.com

I read an article in the mid 90's on this very topic and apparently it was because the product for marketing sake, should be kept to 1 word to make it easier for consumers to remember.

 

[linuxwannabe]

My first experience with a GUI was GEM (Graphical Environment Manager).