Although Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center is credited with the invention of many of the GUI elements we use today, it was Macintosh that brought the benefits of GUI to the masses. The Macintosh 128K stood out of the crowd, with its 512 x 384 monochrome display and mouse. This was in the era when most other systems used a command line interface.
This chronicle, written mainly by Andy Hertzfeld gives amazing insight into the development of the original Macintosh system. Andy was one of the key people involved in the making of the Macintosh 128K.
Reading some of the articles, you immediately get a sense of what Apple products are about. You also realize the role Steve Jobs played in building the image of Apple (read Round Rects are everywhere).
One of my favourite articles is "MacPaint Evolution" which describes the inspiration for the 'marching ants' rubber-band lines drawn when using tools like 'lasso'. Another fantastic article is "Busy Being Born" which shows polaroids of the various versions the GUI went through during development. The latter adds significantly to the beauty of the website.
The best things can be achieved if like minded people work together. I am looking forward to reading the book as well.
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