How did the Xerox Star change the direction of computing?
In my opinion, before the Star, computers were made for professional computer users. They were familiar with specialized computer languages and systems. The Star’s graphical user interface expanded the group of computer users and made it more inclusive and easy to understand for everyone. This was because it used graphics that imitated real-life objects. This innovation opened up a new major branch of interaction design—front-end design.
If I remember correctly, in a lecture at the Computer History Museum, there was a fact mentioned that sixty percent of today’s jobs did not exist thirty years ago. And the Xerox Star introduced the GUI for the first time in 1981. So, in the following decade, many new types of front-end interactions were invented, and more and more people began to join this field, including those who developed Windows and Apple’s Macintosh. This was a huge leap in the field of interaction.
It also means that in the future, sixty percent of the jobs in this field might be new as well. This used to be something unimaginable to me. But learning about the Xerox Star made me believe in these possibilities and stay hopeful for the future.