Re: Another term for GUI

[Tom Obenchain <tom -dot- obenchain -at- MCI -dot- COM>]

>
Kathy Ellis Wrote:

>Anyone know another term for GUI? My company creates software
>that is not exactly bleeding edge stuff. Now that they've decided to
>include things like color and icons to their screens, every product
>is named GUI-This and GUI-That.
>
>In my opinion, the term GUI became obsolete when Microsoft copied
>Apple and wrote Win95. Anyone else feel that it's a dated term? Since
>most of these programs use NT or Win95, I think Windows-based is
>a better term (although I hate to acknowlege the Evil Empire). Maybe we
>should call the older programs non-GUI and really make things sticky!
>(Sorry, couldn't avoid the pun on a Friday!)
>

First, I don't think GUI is a dated term, at least no more dated than
client-server technology and other "standard computer terms. I do,
however, think that the term GUI doesn't belong in a product name,
except perhaps in a development "code name" environment. In my mind,
the term GUI serves to warn folks to expect something more than a text-based,
command line interface.  I think that the Term GUI gets stretched at
times and in ways that are misleading. So, we need to be honest. I
have a hard time with the term GUI being used for a DOS-based menu
type interface.

I think "Windows-based" is okay for end user documentation or for marketing,
but GUI is still acurate and acceptable to me in a development environment.


Tom Obenchain,
Technical Communications Lead
MCI Traffic & Fraud Systems
tom -dot- obenchain -at- mci -dot- com