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adrianmonk | on: Os8088: A powerful Mac-like OS for the IBM XT, 286, 386
> The graphical operating system that could have been for the IBM XT

Visi On[1] was a graphical operating system for the IBM PC that actually existed as a commercial product, though definitely not a very successful one. It was made by VisiCorp, the same company that created VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet for a personal computer).

It was demoed at COMDEX in 1982, before the Apple Lisa was released. It came out after the Lisa but slightly before the Macintosh.

Here's their promotional video from 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc4wFeVvKTI

Fun fact: Bill Gates saw the demo at COMDEX, and at first he was skeptical that it was really running on an IBM PC. But ultimately he was so impressed he decided[2] to start developing a product called Microsoft Windows.

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visi_On

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_1.0

wewewedxfgdf | parent
This kinda almost makes it sound like VisiOn introduced Gates to the GUI which is not true. They were already using and developing for Macintosh machines at Microsoft and had hired Charles Simonyi from PARC with his expertise in GUI systems before Comdex 1982.

The story seems to be more that seeing VisiOn gave MS the nudge to get into action on the GUI due to a sense of competition/urgenbcy from VisiOn rather than learning about the GUI from VisiOn.