Post #3400274

2026-06-23 12:11 UTC

@rl_dane@polymaths.social @AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz @dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz @synlogic4242@social.vivaldi.net > My only complaint with TUIs is that they lack the shared keybinds and consistency of early GUIs. Unix TUIs lack this. They didn't and don't on DOS, Windows & OS2. IBM created a standard called CUA and within a few years basically all DOS apps switched to accommodate it: even the the best-selling big names like WordPerfect and MS Word. https://www.theregister.com/software/2024/01/24/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-standard-user-interface/311877 But Linux hadn't been written yet. This didn't affect all the proprietary Unixes on their proprietary hardware. When Linux went mainstream, they missed the boat, and its console apps kept their ugly proprietary 1970s UIs. But it's never too late. ;-)

Replies (1)

@rl_dane@polymaths.social 2026-06-23 19:13

@lproven@social.vivaldi.net @AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz @dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz @synlogic4242@social.vivaldi.net Oh man fantastic article!! I'm going to feature this in my #Junited blog update today. > Menus bars, dialog box layouts, and standard keystrokes to operate software are not just some clunky old 1990s design to be casually thrown away. They were the result of millions of dollars and years of R&D into human-computer interfaces, a large-scale effort to get different types of computers and operating systems talking to one another and working smoothly together. It worked, and it brought harmony in place of the chaos of the 1970s and 1980s and the early days of personal computers. It was also a vast step forward in accessibility and inclusivity, opening computers up to millions more people. > Just letting it fade away due to ignorance and the odd traditions of one tiny subculture among computer users is one of the biggest mistakes in the history of computing. Oh man, PREACH THAT!!!

Open ##3400273