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Bill Atkinson has died

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Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#31

Post by jx47 »

Arathorn wrote: post #29
matthewn wrote: post #13

In an alternate timeline, HyperCard was not allowed to wither and die, but instead continued to mature, embraced the web, and inspired an entire genre of software-creating software. In this timeline, people shape their computing experiences as easily as one might sculpt a piece of clay, creating personal apps that make perfect sense to them and fit like a glove; computing devices actually become (for everyone, not ju…

It’s ironic that the next graphical programming environment similar to Hypercard was probably Flash - and it obviously died too. What actually are the best successors now, at least for authoring generic apps for the open web? (Other than vibe coding things)

I think that would be Decker (https://internet-janitor.itch.io/decker). Not my project but I found it some time ago when I searched for Hypercard successors. The neat thing is that it works in the browser.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#32

Post by cortesoft »

asveikau wrote: post #19
matthewn wrote: post #13

In an alternate timeline, HyperCard was not allowed to wither and die, but instead continued to mature, embraced the web, and inspired an entire genre of software-creating software. In this timeline, people shape their computing experiences as easily as one might sculpt a piece of clay, creating personal apps that make perfect sense to them and fit like a glove; computing devices actually become (for everyone, not ju…

Maybe there's some sense of longing for a tool that's similar today, but there's no way of knowing how much hypercard did have the impact you are talking about. For example many of us reading here experienced HyperCard. It planted seeds in our future endeavors. I remember in elementary school, I had some computer lab classes where the whole class worked in hypercard on some task. Multiply that by however many classro…

HyperCard was the foundation of my programming career. I treated the HyperCard Bible like an actual Bible.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#34

Post by jamessinghal »

deadbabe wrote: post #18
dakiol wrote: post #15

RIP. It still suprises me that people with resources die so early (he died at 74).

Resources only help you reach your genetic potential, but if you’re just not built for longevity you still may not live long. And some people with no resources, no reason to live, but have incredible genetics will linger for many years beyond what people think is possible, like a weed.

People without resources or purpose are a weed?

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#35

Post by rjsw »

dkislyuk wrote: post #16

From Walter Isaacson's _Steve Jobs_: > One of Bill Atkinson’s amazing feats (which we are so accustomed to nowadays that we rarely marvel at it) was to allow the windows on a screen to overlap so that the “top” one clipped into the ones “below” it. Atkinson made it possible to move these windows around, just like shuffling papers on a desk, with those below becoming visible or hidden as you moved the top ones. Of cou…

I think the difference between the Apple and Xerox approach may be more complicated than the people at PARC not knowing how to do this. The Alto doesn't have a framebuffer, each window has its own buffer and the microcode walks the windows to work out what to put on each scanline.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#36

Post by dboreham »

gavmor wrote: post #23

If you haven't, check out the documentary[0] on General Magic which Bill co-founded in 1990. Among the more remarkable scenes in there is when a member of the public seems perplexed by the thought that they would even want to "check email from Times Square." An unthinkable future, but they thought it. And yet, most folks have never heard of General Magic. 0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQymn5flcek

Invaluable film if you believe Apple invented the smart phone.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#39

Post by edbaskerville »

I wish I could have met him before he died.

I'm yet another child of HyperCard. It opened my mind to what computers could be for, and even though the last two decades have been full primarily of disappointment, I still hold onto that other path as a possibility, or even as a slice of reality---a few weeds growing in the cracks of our dystopian concrete.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#40

Post by [deleted] »

dkislyuk wrote: post #16

From Walter Isaacson's _Steve Jobs_: > One of Bill Atkinson’s amazing feats (which we are so accustomed to nowadays that we rarely marvel at it) was to allow the windows on a screen to overlap so that the “top” one clipped into the ones “below” it. Atkinson made it possible to move these windows around, just like shuffling papers on a desk, with those below becoming visible or hidden as you moved the top ones. Of cou…

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