Question: What user interface used by Apple is compared to the RK Launcher?

Context articles: Extensible User Interface Protocol
RK Launcher
Aqua (user interface)
Command-line interface
User interface design
Bill Fernandez
Model–view–adapter
Launchpad (macOS)
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.
Interface metaphor

The Extensible User Interface Protocol, or XUP, is a proposed web standard.
 XUP is a SOAP-based protocol for communicating events in a user interface, where the user interface is described by an XML document.
 The specification does not limit what format the XML document is in, or what event model is used for communicating over XUP.
 Examples given in the specification for possible user interface languages include XHTML, Wireless Markup Language, and XUL.
RK Launcher is a free application, similar to the dock in the AquaGUI Or Mac OS X.
 The application has support for themes and can support docklets made for ObjectDock and Y'z Dock.
 Icons with the file extension .
PNG and .
ICO can be placed on the dock for shortcuts to applications and documents.
 The application also mimics the smooth zooming and scrolling effects of the Mac OS X smooth zooming animations, as well as the effects used when minimizing windows (Aladdin's Lamp Effect).
Aqua is the graphical user interface (GUI) and visual theme of Apple's macOS operating system.
 It was originally based around the theme of water, with droplet-like components and a liberal use of reflection effects and translucency.
 Its goal is to "incorporate color, depth, translucence, and complex textures into a visually appealing interface" in macOS applications.
 At its introduction, Steve Jobs noted that "one of the design goals was when you saw it you wanted to lick it".
A command-line interface or command language interpreter (CLI), also known as command-line user interface, console user interface and character user interface (CUI), is a means of interacting with a computer program where the user (or client) issues commands to the program in the form of successive lines of text (command lines).
 A program which handles the interface is called a command language interpreter or shell.
User interface design (UI) or user interface engineering is the design of user interfaces for machines and software, such as computers, home appliances, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, with the focus on maximizing usability and the user experience.
 The goal of user interface design is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as possible, in terms of accomplishing user goals (user-centered design).
Bill Fernandez is a user interface architect and inventor who was Apple Computer's first employee when they incorporated in 1977 and is Apple employee # 4.
 He worked on both the Apple I and Apple II personal computers, and in the 1980s was a member of the Apple Macintosh development team.
 He contributed to several user interface aspects of the classic Mac OS, QuickTime and HyperCard and owns a user interface patent granted in 1994.
 He is also credited with introducing fellow Homestead High School student Steve Jobs to his friend (and Homestead alum) Steve Wozniak to each other.
Model–view–adapter (MVA) or mediating-controller MVC is a software architectural pattern and multitier architecture.
 In complex computer applications that present large amounts of data to users, developers often wish to separate data (model) and user interface (view) concerns so that changes to the user interface will not affect data handling and that the data can be reorganized without changing the user interface.
 MVA and traditional MVC both attempt to solve this same problem, but with two different styles of solution.
 Traditional MVC arranges model (e.g., data structures and storage), view (e.g., user interface), and controller (e.g., business logic) in a triangle, with model, view, and controller as vertices, so that some information flows between the model and views outside of the controller's direct control.
 The model–view–adapter solves this rather differently from the model–view–controller by arranging model, adapter or mediating controller and view linearly without any connections whatsoever directly between model and view.
Launchpad is an application launcher for macOS developed by Apple Inc., introduced in Mac OS X Lion.
 A labeled icon represents each application listed in Launchpad.
 The user starts an application by single-clicking its icon.
 Launchpad's graphical user interface provides an alternative way to start applications in macOS, compared with other options such as the Dock (toolbar launcher), Finder (file manager), or Spotlight (desktop search).
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir.
 1994) was a copyright infringement lawsuit in which Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) sought to prevent Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard from using visual graphical user interface (GUI) elements that were similar to those in Apple's Lisa and Macintosh operating systems.
 The court ruled that, "Apple cannot get patent-like protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the idea of a desktop metaphor [under copyright law]...".
 In the midst of the "Apple v. Microsoft" lawsuit, Xerox also sued Apple alleging that Mac's GUI was heavily based on Xerox's.
 The district court dismissed Xerox's claims without addressing whether Apple's GUI infringed Xerox's.
 Apple lost all claims in the "Microsoft" suit except for the ruling that the trash can icon and folder icons from Hewlett-Packard's NewWave windows application were infringing.
 The lawsuit was filed in 1988 and lasted four years; the decision was affirmed on appeal in 1994, and Apple's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied.
In user interface design, an interface metaphor is a set of user interface visuals, actions and procedures that exploit specific knowledge that users already have of other domains.
 The purpose of the interface metaphor is to give the user instantaneous knowledge about how to interact with the user interface.
 They are designed to be similar to physical entities but also have their own properties (e.g., desktop metaphor and web portals).
 They can be based on an activity, an object, or a combination of both and work with users' familiar knowledge to help them understand 'the unfamiliar', and placed in the terms so the user may better understand.