The Xerox Alto was a computer designed from its inception to support an operating system based on a graphical user interface (GUI), later using the desktop metaphor.

The first machines were introduced on 1 March 1973, a decade before mass-market GUI machines became available.

The Xerox Star workstation, officially named Xerox 8010 Information System, is the first commercial personal computer to incorporate technologies that have since become standard in personal computers

Including a bitmapped display, a window-based graphical user interface, icons, folders, mouse (two-button), Ethernet networking, file servers, print servers, and e-mail.

Lisa is a desktop computer developed by Apple, released on January 19, 1983. It is one of the first personal computers to present a graphical user interface (GUI) in a machine aimed at individual business users.

Considered a commercial failure (albeit one with technical acclaim), Lisa introduced a number of advanced features that would later reappear on the Macintosh and eventually IBM PC compatibles.

VisiCorp Visi On was a short-lived but influential graphical user interface-based operating environment program for IBM compatible personal computers running MS-DOS.

Although Visi On was never popular, as it had steep minimum system requirements for its day, it was a major influence on the later development of Microsoft Windows.

The Macintosh "System 1" is the first version of Apple Macintosh operating system and the beginning of the classic Mac OS series.

This operating system introduced many features that would appear for years to come, some that still exist in the current macOS, and a few that exist in other graphical operating systems such as Microsoft Windows.

Workbench is the desktop environment and graphical file manager of AmigaOS developed by Commodore International for their Amiga line of computers.

Workbench provides the user with a graphical interface to work with file systems and launch applications. It uses a workbench metaphor (in place of the more common desktop metaphor) for representing file system organisation.

Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft.

It was first released to manufacturing in the United States on November 20, 1985, while the European version was released as Windows 1.02 in May 1986.

Windows 2.0 is a major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft.

It was released to manufacturing on December 9, 1987, as a successor to Windows 1.0.

OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci.

OS/2 1.0 was announced in April 1987 and released in December. The original release is textmode-only, and a GUI was introduced with OS/2 1.1 about a year later.

Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, launched in 1990. It features a new graphical user interface (GUI) where applications are represented as clickable icons, as opposed to the list of file names seen in its predecessors.

Windows 3.0 sold 10 million copies before it was succeeded by Windows 3.1 in 1992.

System 7, codenamed "Big Bang", and also known as Mac OS 7, is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers and is part of the classic Mac OS series of operating systems.

With the release of version 7.6 in 1997, Apple officially renamed the operating system "Mac OS", a name which had first appeared on System 7.5.1's boot screen.

Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0.

Further enhancements were introduced in Windows 3.1. The TrueType font system was introduced in order to provide scalable fonts to Windows applications, without having to resort on using third-party technology such as Adobe Type Manager (ATM).

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems.

Windows 95 introduced a redesigned shell based around a desktop metaphor; File shortcuts (also known as shell links) were introduced and the desktop was re-purposed to hold shortcuts to applications, files and folders, reminiscent of Mac OS.

KDE is a network transparent, contemporary desktop environment for UNIX workstations.

KDE seeks to fill the need for an easy to use desktop for Unix workstations, similar to the desktop environments found under the MacOS or Window95/NT.

GNOME was started on 15 August 1997 by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena as a free software project to develop a desktop environment and applications for it. It was founded in part because K Desktop Environment, which was growing in popularity, relied on the Qt widget toolkit which used a proprietary software license until version 2.0 (June 1999).

In place of Qt, GTK (GNOME Toolkit, at that time called GIMP Toolkit) was chosen as the base of GNOME. GTK uses the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), a free software license that allows software linking to it to use a much wider set of licenses, including proprietary software licenses.

Mac OS X 10.0 (code named Cheetah) is the first major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system.

Mac OS X was a radical departure from the classic Mac OS and was Apple's long-awaited answer for a next generation Macintosh operating system.

Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 2000 for professional users and Windows Me for home users.

Upon its release, Windows XP received critical acclaim, noting increased performance and stability (especially compared to Windows Me), a more intuitive user interface, improved hardware support, and expanded multimedia capabilities

Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.

Unlike previous versions of Mac OS X, the goals of Snow Leopard were improved performance, greater efficiency and the reduction of its overall memory footprint. Apple famously marketed Snow Leopard as having "zero new features"