Which came first, Windows 95's taskbar or NeXT's Dock? Neither
Reg hack accidentally rattles Microsoft folks' cages… again
The question of which user interface elements, namely the Windows 95 taskbar and NeXTstep Dock, came first has sparked debate. However, the evidence suggests neither directly influenced the other. The Windows 95 taskbar emerged from the Cairo project, which focused on an always-visible bottom tray for file and content transfer. At the same time, Acorn's Arthur operating system, which predated Windows 95 by several years, featured an icon bar at the bottom of its desktop as early as 1987.
This icon bar was reportedly created by an Acorn engineer who later moved to California and showcased his Archimedes computer to colleagues. Steve Jobs later unveiled the NeXT Cube in 1988, featuring a comparable dock. It was only by the time Windows 95 arrived in 1995 that these similar designs had become established, even as the two interfaces served different purposes.
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- Which came first, Windows 95's taskbar or NeXT's Dock? Neither theregister.com
