A windows box is a computer that uses the Microsoft Windows operating system. The practice of calling small computers "boxes" (and sometimes "boxen") began when smaller computers and interface devices like graphics terminals were first networked with mainframes. Example: "We preprocess the data on Unix boxes before handing it up to the mainframe." A computer is a machine designed for manipulating data according to a list of instructions known as a program. ... Microsoft Windows is the worlds largest operating system for use on personal computers. ... Graphic redirects here. ... A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system. ... A computer network is a system for communication between computers. ... Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as big iron) are large and expensive computers used mainly by government institutions and large companies for legacy applications, typically bulk data processing (such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and bank transaction processing). ... Unix or UNIX is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T Bell Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy. ...

The first use of the phrase "windows box" was during the development of the graphical user interface (GUI). In the 1960's computer science researchers such as Douglas Engelbart experimented with software and hardware to increase computer user productivity. Among the ideas developed were hypertext, the "mouse," and the concept of computer graphics windows. A graphical user interface (or GUI, often pronounced gooey) is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text. ... Douglas Engelbart Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart (born January 30, 1925 in Oregon) is an American inventor of Norwegian descent. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the hardware. ... In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which, according to an early definition (Nelson 1970), branch or perform on request. ... Operating a mechanical 1: Pulling the mouse turns the ball. ... An example of a graphical user interface in Windows XP, with the My Music window displayed A window is a visual area, usually rectangular in shape, containing some kind of user interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one of a number of simultaneously running computer processes. ...

The first "windows boxes" were specialized "graphics boxes" with a user interface that included windows (rectangular regions displayed on a computer screen that contain information different from what is on the rest of the screen). Although Macintosh computers were the first mass-market computers to used a window-based GUI, Macintoshes were never known as "Windows boxes," which is used almost exclusively to describe computers that run Microsoft Windows. The phrase "windows computer" was also used to distinguish such GUI computers from earlier "Command line interface" computers such as the original 1981 IBM personal computer. The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh, or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... Screenshot of a sample Bash session, taken on Gentoo Linux. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...

Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released to market in November 1985, but the Windows operating system had little impact before Windows 3.0 in May 1990. 1990 was the year that the first HTTP webpage went online. At that time, various text pages on the internet document use of the term "UNIX box". Example: HTTP (for HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the primary method used to convey information on the World Wide Web. ... A webpage or web page is a page of the World Wide Web, usually in HTML/XHTML format (the file extensions are typically htm or html) and with hypertext links to enable navigation from one page or section to another. ... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ...

Sep 25 1990: "I'll post a binary as soon as I can get to my local Unix box again (the hardware hackers have taken over)."

Within a few years, mention of "windows boxes" began to appear on the internet:

2 Jul 1993: "I downloaded a copy myself a few weeks ago, to my DOS/Windows box, and gave it a whirl."

Use of the term "windows box" on the internet has always trailed behind other phrases such as "windows machine", "windows computer", and "windows PC" but the use of "windows box" increased steadily during the 1990s as the Microsoft Windows operating system matured.

1997. Gag gift "windows box". The Windows9x crashbag box could be mounted on a computer monitor. It had a warning on it saying that it would inflate a protective airbag if you banged your head on the monitor when Windows kept crashing. The Windows Logo used since Windows XP In 1983 Microsoft announced its development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS) that had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. ... An automobile airbag, like this one in a crashed SEAT Ibiza car, deflates after 0. ... A crash in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. ...

Finally, in 2003 use of the term "windows box" on the internet reached levels comparable to use of the term "UNIX box".

See also

• History_of_computing

The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. ...

External links

• Internet history