First, unlike the transition from character-line to graphical user interfaces, touch user interfaces do not provide a better environment for productivity applications.

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Computing is undergoing a major revolution moving to touchscreen devices, Begemann says, similar to the shift to graphical user interfaces in the 1990s.

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Researcher Valentin Huen explains that "graphical user interfaces are perfect for modifying systems, " but operating them on a day-to-day basis is much easier using tangible objects.

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Open source has been used primarily in IT shops and especially on Unix platforms, where a number of necessary components are by tradition open source (things like file systems or graphical user interfaces).

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It wasn't until 1992, with the economy still in the doldrums, that Windows 3.1 got it right, putting Microsoft on top of the market for a new generation of machines that relied on graphical user interfaces.

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Corona's software includes an embedded Java operating system and a new variant of the old X-Windows software, which allowed for the creation of hardware-independent graphical user interfaces much like those of Windows or the Macintosh operating system.

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Former Windows Magazine editor Mike Elgan has referred to the new paradigm as "MPG" (multitouch, physics, gestures) However, while these user interfaces feature streamlined designs and more direct manipulation, they still form a bridge with the graphical user interface.

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