The Windows revolution

The popular sentiment against its creator Microsoft notwithstanding, the Windows operating system has brought what was once a scientific and business curiosity to everyone's homes, so much so that even toddlers today can operate machines that once upon a time only professionals did. Windows reinvented the computer, such that today the machine permeates all aspects of our lives. Giving commands through clicks made with a mouse is what Windows is all about, and it has virtually transformed the whole world.

The greatness of the idea lay in its simplicity. It is innate to humans to use their index finger and thumb for manipulating and operating objects. Buttons and switches are therefore prominently used for operating gadgets and devices of all kinds. Windows uses this concept on the monitor screen - icons and buttons that can be clicked with a mouse to give commands to manage all operations. The older, keyboard-based DOS would have left us typing commands all over to manage our files and programs, something long winded and cumbersome.

It is anyone's guess as to how many people owe their jobs to this reinvented machine, and use it at work. Almost all of us. If computers today permeate every aspect of our lives - work, entertainment, communication, shopping...a long list - it is in large part thanks to this simple and easily learnable operating system that allows everything to be done at the click of a mouse.

Born as a data storer and data manipulator, the computer is still today the same, though it has shrunk in size, with the addition of data transmission which has revolutionised the way we communicate through text messaging, shrinking the world into a wired network. It is the human friendly operating system that has brought it closer to us through its visual interface.

Windows has improved our lives by allowing us to easily use these powerful machines. It might in future be replaced by better ways of giving commands and interacting with machines, as it so often happens with technology. As an invention of human creativity, it has a permanent place in the history of technology and human society.