[asveikau]

> hour glass for the X. Imagine using a symbol for your powerful new computer that essentially means "wait".

Are you sure you're not mixing timelines? Was the hourglass established for this metaphor in 1986?

I first remember the hourglass cursor from Windows 95. At the time Macintosh used a wristwatch. This struck me as similar to Microsoft using "recycle bin" because they borrowed a metaphor and didn't want to say "trash".

It wouldn't surprise me to see earlier uses of the metaphor, but some quick googling is not immediately revealing them to me.

Edit: this claims Xerox Star used the hourglass. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/wait-wait-tell-me/

[grahamj]

I don't know if it was used in computer iconography at that time but I would have expected a designer to see it that way regardless. It means the same thing as the old Mac watch and is why MS used it in Windows.

PS I miss that watch! It was way better than the beachball.

[JKCalhoun]

And the "beach ball" was originally the optical drive spinning, seeking.