Eugene Mosher
Encyclopedia
Gene Mosher is best known for inventing the graphic touchscreen
point of sale
computer
and is a pioneer of human-computer interaction, including touchscreen interfaces, application-specific GUI
s, direct manipulation GUIs, widget toolkit
s, widget engine
s and network computing
.
Mosher is a 1966 graduate of Xaverius College
in Borgerhout
, Belgium
and received a Bachelor's degree in Social Anthropology
from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
in 1972. As a restaurant builder/owner/operator from 1972 until 1984, Mosher first began writing point of sale software on his vintage Apple II
computer in 1977 and pioneered point of sale software for the food and beverage vertical market
to make practical the use of a PC
as an order entry device (1978) and the printer as a way to communicate orders to the preparation areas of restaurants, namely kitchens and bars (1979). Mosher sold his restaurant business in 1984. He relocated from Syracuse, New York
to Eugene, Oregon
, where he began work on the first graphic touchscreen user interfaces and the first point of sale computer, using the bit-mapped graphical display and unified memory features of the newly-released Atari ST
.
Mosher developed ViewTouch, the first virtual graphic user interface (GUI) and widget toolkit featuring touchscreen input. He created the first fully widget driven graphical point of sale application software featuring touchscreen input. The ViewTouch GUI was a very early widget engine, an array of touchscreen-driven widgets which comprised a complete, stand-alone, application specific GUI. The effect of the achievement was the creation and implementation of the paradigm that was to become the basis for the retail vertical market software
industry itself.
Mosher also pioneered the widget toolkit as an application framework for the rapid development of any kind of application-specific virtual interface with a touchscreen GUI. The practical effect of this was that software programmers no longer needed to control or even develop the graphical user interface
s that customers would be using because the users themselves were given tools with which to develop their own widget-based GUIs.
His later work used the X Window System
and the Secure Shell
networking protocol to build a secure framework for software applications enabling large collaborative work groups across the Internet, a precursor of cloud computing
.
Gene Mosher never applied for any patent
s or received any royalties for his pioneering innovations. The large body of GUI accomplishments credited to him since 1985 has formed a substantial basis of prior art, placing many aspects of GUI development above the restrictions of patents that would otherwise have the effect of impeding the free and rapid development of GUIs.
Mosher remains active working from his home office in Eugene, Oregon
, using his ViewTouch trademark to assist point of sale software developers worldwide and to promote philanthropic activities related to his professional interests.
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
point of sale
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
and is a pioneer of human-computer interaction, including touchscreen interfaces, application-specific GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
s, direct manipulation GUIs, widget toolkit
Widget toolkit
In computing, a widget toolkit, widget library, or GUI toolkit is a set of widgets for use in designing applications with graphical user interfaces...
s, widget engine
Widget engine
In computer software, a widget engine is a software service available to users for running and displaying applets on a graphical user interface, such as that of the desktop.The widget model in widget engines is attractive because of ease of development...
s and network computing
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
.
Mosher is a 1966 graduate of Xaverius College
Xaverius College
Xaverius College, in Borgerhout, near Antwerp, Belgium, is one of seven schools operated by the Jesuit priests in Flanders, the northern and western part of Belgium where Dutch is spoken....
in Borgerhout
Borgerhout
Borgerhout is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The district houses 41,614 inhabitants reflecting 90 nationalities...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and received a Bachelor's degree in Social Anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
in 1972. As a restaurant builder/owner/operator from 1972 until 1984, Mosher first began writing point of sale software on his vintage Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
computer in 1977 and pioneered point of sale software for the food and beverage vertical market
Vertical market
A vertical market is a group of similar businesses and customers that engage in trade based on specific and specialized needs. Often, participants in a vertical market are very limited to a subset of a larger industry...
to make practical the use of a PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
as an order entry device (1978) and the printer as a way to communicate orders to the preparation areas of restaurants, namely kitchens and bars (1979). Mosher sold his restaurant business in 1984. He relocated from Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
to Eugene, Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
, where he began work on the first graphic touchscreen user interfaces and the first point of sale computer, using the bit-mapped graphical display and unified memory features of the newly-released Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
.
Mosher developed ViewTouch, the first virtual graphic user interface (GUI) and widget toolkit featuring touchscreen input. He created the first fully widget driven graphical point of sale application software featuring touchscreen input. The ViewTouch GUI was a very early widget engine, an array of touchscreen-driven widgets which comprised a complete, stand-alone, application specific GUI. The effect of the achievement was the creation and implementation of the paradigm that was to become the basis for the retail vertical market software
Vertical market software
Vertical market software is aimed at addressing the needs of any given business within a discernible vertical market...
industry itself.
Mosher also pioneered the widget toolkit as an application framework for the rapid development of any kind of application-specific virtual interface with a touchscreen GUI. The practical effect of this was that software programmers no longer needed to control or even develop the graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
s that customers would be using because the users themselves were given tools with which to develop their own widget-based GUIs.
His later work used the X Window System
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
and the Secure Shell
Secure Shell
Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
networking protocol to build a secure framework for software applications enabling large collaborative work groups across the Internet, a precursor of cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
.
Gene Mosher never applied for any patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s or received any royalties for his pioneering innovations. The large body of GUI accomplishments credited to him since 1985 has formed a substantial basis of prior art, placing many aspects of GUI development above the restrictions of patents that would otherwise have the effect of impeding the free and rapid development of GUIs.
Mosher remains active working from his home office in Eugene, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, using his ViewTouch trademark to assist point of sale software developers worldwide and to promote philanthropic activities related to his professional interests.
External links
- Gene Mosher Turns Up The Heat On POS (Nancy Cohen, Open, 29 March 2004)
- Waiters at a Eugene grill will use wireless ViewTouch tablets to take your order (Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard February 6, 2004)
- POS device eliminates PC servers, databases (Mike Magee, The Inquirer 7 August 2007)
- Local native took part in retail revolution (Rachael Hanley, Watertown Daily times, 15 August 2007)
- Direct manipulation in point of sale graphic interfaces (hcik4, Human Computer Interaction, 1 November 2008)
- ViewTouch