[damieng]

"The task bar, the Start menu, the system tray, "My Computer", "Network Neighbourhood", all that: all original, patented Microsoft designs. There was nothing like it before. "

Apart from, you know, NextStep which had a dock for system tray/start menu as well as my computer and network neighbourhood.

You can find screenshots of NextStep 3.3 showing this such as https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep/3x from 1992 and it's possible they're also in earlier versions - NextStep 1.0 was released in 1989.

[lproven]

Not the same thing at all, as I deconstructed in some detail nearly a decade before:

https://www.theregister.com/Print/2013/06/03/thank_microsoft...

[damieng]

"NeXTStep had its Dock, but that doesn't have menus or a status icon."

NeXTStep not only had menus but tear-off dockable menus/sub-menus that are superior to any menus we have in apps today. It's clearly present in the screenshot I linked to.