They may have invented it - in the early 70s (Score 1)

In 1974 a company called Microdata began selling the first commercial version of the Pick operating system. Microdata was purchased by McDonnell Douglas in 1981. One of the features of the OS is the date windowing described. Based on all the other practical features of the Pick environment it doesn't surprise me that they included this fix first. A good Pick stating point is the comp.databases.pick FAQ.