Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Desktop |
DesktopAdjective1. Designed for use on a desk or table. Noun1. The top of a desk. 2. (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "desktop" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1985. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Each GUI operating system has a desktop. This is the area where various shortcuts or files can be stored for easy access by the user. Some examples of operating systems that include desktops are:
The computer term Desktop originally came from the area on an actual desk where most of the work is done. The top of a Desk can support various objects, including:
- Some versions of Linux
- Windows operating systems
- Macintosh operating systems
See also Desktop computer
- Pen Holders
- Computer Monitors
- Computer Peripherals
- The top of a desk is easy to write on
- Calendars
- Misc. objects (including coffee cups, Kleenex and computer mice)
- Models of ships, airplanes, human skulls, etc. etc; often referred to as desktop model(s)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Desktop."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The desktop metaphor is a set of unifying concepts currently used in a number of GUI-based operating systems. In this metaphor, the monitor of a computer represents the user's desktop, upon which documents and folders of documents can be placed. A document can be opened into a window, which represents a paper copy of the document placed on the desktop. Small applications called desk accessories are also available, such as a desk calculator, etc.The desktop metaphor itself has been extended and stretched with various implementations, since access to features and usability of the computer are usually more important than maintaining the "purity" of the metaphor. Hence we find trash cans on the desktop, as well as disks and network volumes (which can be thought of as filing cabinets - not something normally found on a desktop). Other features such as menu bars, task bars or docks have no counterpart on a real-world desktop.
In recent times the filing cabinet and desktop metaphor has become less important, especially since the advent of very large storage media, which can make the easy navigation of files and folders problematic. A more user-oriented approach is gaining favour, where the user can organise documents in a manner that facilitates his or her particular needs, rather than being forced to use a file-system view of the system. The addition of "smart folders" and the like leads to a method of locating files that is based on search criteria important to the user, rather than its physical arrangement on disk, which ultimately is of no importance to the user.
The first computer to popularise the desktop metaphor over the earlier command line interface was the Apple Macintosh of 1984. See also History of the GUI
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Desktop metaphor."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Three Gigahertz personal computer and peripherals, October 2003. From left to right: printer (left of the irrelevant TV), monitor, broadband cable modem for the internet, scanner. The tower (CPU, hard drive, etc) can just be glimpsed at bottom right. The keyboard and mouse are wire-less.
Larger version
The term personal computer or PC has three meanings:
The first generation of microcomputers were sometimes known as home computers, and are discussed in that section.
- IBM's range of PCs that lead to the use of the term - see IBM PC.
- A generic term used to describe microcomputers that are compatible with IBM's specification - (discussed here)
- A generic term sometimes used to describe all microcomputers - (mentioned here)
A personal computer is an inexpensive microcomputer, originally designed to be used by only one person at a time, and which is IBM PC compatible - (though in common usage it may sometimes refer to non-compatible machines).
The earliest known use of the term was in New Scientist magazine in 1964, in a series of articles called "The World in 1984". In "The Banishment of Paper Work," Arthur L. Samuel of IBM's Watson Research Center writes, "While it will be entirely feasible to obtain an education at home, via one's own personal computer, human nature will not have changed."
The first generation of microcomputers that started to appear in the 1970s (see Home Computers) were markedly less versatile and powerful than business computers of the day, and were generally used by computer enthusiasts or for playing games.
It was the launch of the VisiCalc spreadsheet, initially for the Apple II and later for the IBM PC that became the "killer app" that turned the microcomputer into a business tool. The low cost of personal computers led to great popularity in the home and business markets during the 1980s. In 1982, Time magazine named the personal computer its Man of the Year.
During the 1990s, the power of personal computers increased radically, blurring the formerly sharp distinction between personal computers and multi-user computers such as mainframes. Today higher-end computers often distinguish themselves from personal computers by greater reliability or greater ability to multitask, rather than by straight CPU power.
Architecture and Expansion
Most modern personal computers use the IBM PC compatible hardware architecture, using x86-compatible processors made by Intel, AMD, or Cyrix. The hardware capabilities of personal computers can usually be extended by the addition of Expansion cards.With regard to portability we can distinguish:
- the desktop computer
- the notebook or laptop
- the wearable computer
Non IBM compatible "Personal Computers"
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the personal computer, a number of non IBM PC compatible microcomputers (sometimes also generically called Personal Computers) are still popular in niche uses. The leading alternative is Apple Computer's proprietary Power Macintosh platform, based on the PowerPC computer architecture, which is widely used for grapic design and related uses.
See also:
- The Apple, Apple II, Lisa, and Macintosh
- Osborne 1
- 8-bit microcomputer
- desknote
- History of computing hardware II
- Microcomputer
- Minicomputer
- Mainframe computer
- Supercomputer
- Server
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Personal computer."
Synonyms: DesktopSynonyms: background (n), screen background (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
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Books |
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Periodicals |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "My Desktop" by Frizzo@secrel.com.br Commentary: "My desktop." | "Desktop" by [kacsalla] Commentary: "A little rendetlenség;)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Notebook, sub-notebook, and desktop PCs represent best sales prospects for foreign exports to the Japanese market. (references) | |
In terms of product application, DRAMs are used mainly for desktop PCs (50 percent) and memory modules (20 percent). (references) | ||
Getronics took over Wang Global Service in May 1999, making it one of the largest network and desktop services companies. (references) | ||
Economic History | Australia | Of these, 500,000 are destined for the consumer desktop sector. (references) |
Ghana | The main imports are desktop personal computers, floppy diskettes, printers, and monitors. (references) | |
India | Intel has captured the desktop microprocessor market with their Pentium and Celeron brands. (references) | |
Trade | Cote D'ivoire | Traveling with desktop computers or other electronic equipment may pose a problem if the equipment is new or the quantity is such that it may be suspected as being brought into the country for resale. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Desktop" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.70% of the time. "Desktop" is used about 1,346 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.7% | 1,315 | 6,034 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.97% | 13 | 97,576 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.82% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.45% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Noun (common) | 0.07% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,346 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "desktop": common Desktop Environment ♦ desktop computer ♦ desktop database ♦ desktop Management Interface ♦ desktop Management Task Force ♦ desktop manager ♦ desktop publishing ♦ open Desktop. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "desktop": desktop-centric, Desktop-j, desktop-to-datacentre, desktop-to-mainframe, desktop-to-unix. | |
Ending with "desktop": unix-on-the-desktop. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
desktop theme | 14,482 | window xp desktop theme | 461 |
desktop wallpaper | 14,472 | the matrix desktop theme | 451 |
desktop file theme | 6,642 | palm desktop | 433 |
desktop | 3,900 | remote desktop | 429 |
free desktop wallpaper | 3,788 | desktop architect | 382 |
free desktop theme | 3,340 | xp desktop theme | 370 |
desktop computer | 2,797 | free desktop icon | 366 |
desktop background | 2,753 | desktop pet | 359 |
desktop management | 2,023 | desktop floyd pink scheme | 354 |
desktop icon | 1,421 | active desktop | 350 |
kazaa media desktop | 1,328 | window desktop theme | 330 |
desktop picture | 1,074 | free desktop | 321 |
desktop publishing | 963 | free desktop theme downloads | 320 |
mac desktop picture | 834 | 3d desktop wallpaper | 272 |
desktop calendar | 697 | desktop game | 259 |
desktop system | 673 | desktop image | 258 |
desktop buddy | 530 | anime desktop theme | 247 |
free desktop background | 512 | weather desktop | 236 |
desktop thems | 492 | desktop finding nemo theme | 218 |
desktop girl | 464 | desktop kazza media | 217 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "desktop"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 桌面 (tabletop). (various references) | |
Czech | stolní edièní systém (desktop publishing). (various references) | |
Danish | DTP (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), desktop publishing (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), datamatstøttet publikationsfremstilling (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), mikropublikation (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer). (various references) | |
Dutch | desktop publishing (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), micro-uitgeverij (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), grafisch publikatiesysteem (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), elektronische publikatie (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), computerondersteunde publikatie (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing). (various references) | |
Finnish | mikrojulkaisutoiminta (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), mikrojulkaisu (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer). (various references) | |
French | publication assistée par ordinateur (desktop publishing), PAO (desktop publishing), micro-informatique (desktop computing), microédition (designing page layouts, desktop publishing), éditique (desktop publishing), édition de bureau (designing page layouts, desktop publishing). (various references) | |
German | Schreibtischplatte, Schreibtisch (desk, writing table). (various references) | |
Greek | ηλεκτρονικές εκδόσεις (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), εκτύπωση με τη βοήθεια υπολογιστή (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), επιτραπέζιο εκδοτικό σύστημα (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer). (various references) | |
Italian | pubblicazione informatizzata (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), pubblicazione computerizzata (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), pubblicazione assistita dal computer (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), microinformatica (desktop computing), editoria personale (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), editoria elettronica (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), editoria da tavola (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer). (various references) | |
Korean | 2 바탕 화면. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | esktopday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | editoração eletrônica (desktop publishing, electronic publishing), edição assistida por computador (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, electronic publishing, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer). (various references) | |
Russian | настольный (benchtop, desk-mounted, table), настольная система/ .настольный. (various references) | |
Spanish | publicación asistida por ordenador (computer-aided publishing, computer-assisted publishing, desktop publishing, electronic publishing), ordenador de mesa (desktop computer), micropublicación (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer), edición (desktop publishing, editing, edition, impression, issue, publishing), autoedición (designing page layouts, desktop publishing, drawing illustrations, editing text, incorporating photographs, it implies writing text, printing a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer). (various references) | |
Swedish | skrivbord (davenport, desk, writing desk, writing table, writing-desk, writing-table). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "desktop": desktops. (additional references) | |
| |
"Desktop" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dekstop, destep, destop, dsktop. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "desktop" (pronounced de"sktÄ'p) |
| 4 | -k t Ä' p | blacktop. |
| 3 | -t Ä' p | backstop, countertop, hilltop, laptop, mountaintop, rolltop, rooftop, shortstop, tabletop. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-k-o-p-s-t" | |
-1 letter: depots, despot, posted, spoked, stoked, stoped. | |
-2 letters: depot, doest, dopes, dotes, estop, opted, pesto, poets, poked, pokes, posed, spode, spoke, stoke, stope, toked, tokes, toped, topes, tsked. | |
-3 letters: desk, does, dope, dose, dost, dote, dots, epos, keps, kept, keto, kops, odes, okes, oped, opes, opts, peds, peso, pest, pets, pods, poet, poke, pose. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-k-o-p-s-t" | |
+1 letter: desktops. | |
+3 letters: postmarked, stockpiled. | |
+4 letters: backstopped, outsparkled, spatterdock. | |
+5 letters: postcardlike, spatterdocks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
