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Mac OXS GUI

What is a GUI?

Almost all computers provide a graphical user interface to make performing tasks on the computer much more intuitive.

Each platform's GUI will be different, but every single one has certain elements in common.

The pointer
The mouse (or another pointing input device) can be used to navigate a pointer around the space on the computer screen. You use the pointer to manipulate the objects on the screen: click them, select them, move them, or resize them (to name a few basic operations).

Desktop
Just like the space on a desk where you can arrange all your folders, documents, and tools, so does the GUI have a an area of the screen (usually, the whole screen) where the GUI elements can be stored and arranged.

Icons
An icon is a graphical image that represents the files, programs, folders, and all other data and elements that can exist on your computer. You manipulate an element on the computer by manipulating its icon in the GUI. For instance, double-clicking a program icon to launch it, or dragging a file icon into a folder icon to move the data.

Windows
A window represents a program, or a space on your desktop where activity can take place (like running a program). You can move windows around the desktop in any order, and resize them to fit any size you might need.

Menus or toolbars
Most windows will have a series of menus through which you can navigate to display the names of commands that can be carried out in that window. A toolbar is similar, except graphical icons represent the commands instead of text names.


Three-dimensional window depth
In addition to being resized to take up as much two-dimensional space as you want on your desktop, windows can also be stacked into three-dimensional layers, with one covering another. Like the desktop analogy, this is analogous to papers or folders being stacks one on top of the other on a real desktop.

PLATFORMS

There are currently three main platforms for running a computer: Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.



Windows


Microsoft Windows is arguably the most used operating system in the world (some estimate that between 80% to 90% of computers run Windows). It certainly is the easiest platform for which to find software. Windows runs on PC computer hardware, especially requiring an Intel-compatible processor (such as the ones made by manufacturers like Intel or AMD).
Windows XP, the latest version of Windows, uses a graphical user interface (GUI) to manage files and run software.


Macintosh

Next in popularity to Windows, the Macintosh platform by Apple is the most common alternative to Windows. The Macintosh operating system requires different hardware than Windows, in particular the PowerPC processor (mostly manufactured by Motorola).
The latest version of the Macintosh platform is called OSX. The Mac platform has long been favored by artists and designers for graphical and multimedia work.



Linux



Rapidly gaining ground in the platform popularity contest is the Linux platform. Part of its success lies in its roots in the Open Source software movement - there are many distributions of Linux available for free to download off the Internet. Linux offers a great amount of user control and configuration to the user, but also requires a greater amount of technical proficiency in order to install and configure it.The Linux operating systems can run on the same PC hardware as Windows. In fact, many users of Linux will often configure their computers to dual boot - where the user has the choice to run either Windows or Linux when they turn on the computer.

File Management

"Knowledge worker"

A knowledge worker is anyone whose daily job is to develop or use knowledge. In today's "Information Age", this encompasses a huge number of types of employment. In fact, over the past century, the "dominant type of occupation has gone from farm laborer, to blue collar worker, to white collar worker, to knowledge worker.", according to Brainbench CEO Mike Rusiello.
Knowledge workers need to organize, process, collect, record, rewrite, edit, and learn vast amounts of knowledge, in a short time. All this mental work demands a vast amount of organization. So where do knowledge workers find a powerful organization tool to make the job easier? The computer, of course-you knew that was coming.
The key to organization on the computer is through file management. If you are going to use a computer for work, school, or leisure-not just run programs on it, but truly use it as knowledge management tool-then it is absolutely essential to understand computer file management.



Operating Systems

A computer is nothing more than a doorstop without its operating system. Well, that's not quite fair, but the point is that the operating system is what ties everything you do on the computer together. The operating system:


· Is a platform that enables other programs to run on the computer.
· Translates input from devices such as the keyboard, the mouse, a scanner, etc.
· Sends output to devices such as a printer, the monitor, etc.
· Manages files and directories on the removable disks and hard drives connected to the computer.
· Provides tools for security, especially if the computer is part of a network.
Operating system relationship between hardware and application software