Windows Taskbar Origins Revealed

The Windows taskbar has been a staple of Microsoft's operating system since its introduction in Windows 95. But where did this idea come from? A recent social media thread by Microsoft veterans Brad Silverberg, Joe Belfiore, and Dave Plummer shed light on the origins of the taskbar.

According to the trio, the foundation for the taskbar was laid in 'Cairo,' a Microsoft project launched back in 1991. In Cairo, 'fields' were located at the bottom of the screen and were always visible. When developing Windows 95, the Cairo design was combined with a feature from Windows 3.1 that allowed users to minimize windows.

This contradicts the common assumption that the taskbar was inspired by the NeXT dock, which appeared in the NeXTSTEP operating system for Steve Jobs's NeXT computers in 1988. However, Microsoft veterans claim that the design of the taskbar was created independently and not copied from NeXT.