There’s a video posted to YouTube that shows off the way-ahead-of-its-time Xerox Star workstation (officially the 8010 Information System). An uncredited speaker introduces the clip (a quick Google search tells me it’s likely part of a Stanford class on computer-human interaction— that you can take online, for free!)

“In 1981 Xerox introduced the Star office information system. The radical user interface of Star had a major impact on the office system and personal computer industry. Star introduced the use of icons to represent objects and applications, the desktop metaphor with a direct manipulation interface, windows containing multimedia documents, property and option sheets, and generic commands. In some ways, such as its use of the move, copy, and delete functions, Star remains unsurpassed in the consistancy of its interface. Other features such as multimedia, multi-lingual documents have only recently appeared in other systems.

The following video tape was made in 1982 by two Star designers: David Canfield Smith and Charles Irby. It illustrates some of the innovations in computer-human interfaces embodied in the Xerox Star.”

Part two is available on YouTube.