4. The operating system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of dialog boxes are logically associated in a hierarchical relationship based on the location of the dialog launch display element used to launch each dialog box, said hierarchical relationship defining parent-child relationships between said plurality of dialog boxes, and further wherein said dialog launch modalities comprise: a modal dialog launch modality wherein only the selected dialog box, as an active dialog box, and its parent dialog boxes are open simultaneously, and wherein the user can only interact with said active dialog box until said active dialog box is closed; a modeless dialog launch modality wherein any number of dialog boxes may be open simultaneously, and wherein the user can interact with any aspect of the graphical user interface other than the active dialog box while the active dialog box is open; and a semi-modeless dialog launch modality wherein only the selected dialog box, as an active dialog box, and parent dialog boxes of the selected dialog box are open simultaneously, and wherein a user can interact with selected aspects of the graphical user interface other than the active dialog box while the active dialog box is open.
4. The operating system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of dialog boxes are logically associated in a hierarchical relationship based on the location of the dialog launch display element used to launch each dialog box, said hierarchical relationship defining parent-child relationships between said plurality of dialog boxes, and further wherein said dialog launch modalities comprise: a modal dialog launch modality wherein only the selected dialog box, as an active dialog box, and its parent dialog boxes are open simultaneously, and wherein the user can only interact with said active dialog box until said active dialog box is closed; a modeless dialog launch modality wherein any number of dialog boxes may be open simultaneously, and wherein the user can interact with any aspect of the graphical user interface other than the active dialog box while the active dialog box is open; and a semi-modeless dialog launch modality wherein only the selected dialog box, as an active dialog box, and parent dialog boxes of the selected dialog box are open simultaneously, and wherein a user can interact with selected aspects of the graphical user interface other than the active dialog box while the active dialog box is open. 5. The operating system of claim 4, wherein said selected aspects of the graphical user interface comprises: one or more open parent dialog boxes of said selected dialog box.