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Joining Apple Computer (2018)

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Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#41

Post by zoky »

walterbell wrote: post #10
9d wrote: post #8

> It was exciting working at Apple, knowing that whatever we invented would be used by millions of people. I admit it is exciting to make something you truly believe is good and helpful. And that it's disappointing when that thing isn't used by anyone. It's even worse when it turns out it's just not that useful. But in the end, everything is replaced anyway. So I guess it's fine.

> whatever we invented would be used by millions of people Two billion active Apple devices in 2025.

I mean, as long as the average number of Apple devices per person is > 2 (which seems pretty likely, I have three on me right now), that’s still technically in the millions range.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#42

Post by jonstewart »

9d wrote: post #7
mehulashah wrote: post #5

Legend. I still remember first putting my hands on a Mac, and the joy of computing that ensued in high school. I could get lost in the computer for days. Thank you, Bill.

I had that feeling too. How do we get it back? How do we share it with others? There has to be a way.

I have been thinking about this more, about how I spent hours and days exploring everything of my family’s new Mac SE, and then HyperCard, and creating with it.

There is an aspect of creativity that comes from being inspired, taking off from others’ ideas.

But there is also an aspect of creativity that’s more ascetic, and requires being bored—when there’s nothing else to do, turn the computer into a toy, to play with it, so you are not bored. And I am increasingly of the opinion getting to that state, at least for me, requires turning off the internet.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#43

Post by roughly »

9d wrote: post #34
roughly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I admit it is exciting to make something you truly believe is good and helpful. I want to double down on this - I’m lucky enough to have worked places where I truly believed the world would be a better place if we “won,” and not on the margins, and it really, really makes a difference in quality of life. I’ve worked at other places, too, and the cognitive drag of knowing that your skills and efforts - your ability…

I've wasted countless years on pursuits I thought were good but later determined to have been bad, and therefore deeply regretted. I don't wish this on anyone. I've also wasted countless years on pursuits I still think were good but overall never truly helped make the world better. This was less bad and seems inevitable.

Yeah I got a couple places on my resume I don’t like to talk about anymore. Turns out an awful lot of things are bad for the world in the wrong hands.

Still, if I’m going to spend a third of my life on something - and, more importantly, if I’m going to be responsible for my efforts contributing to something - I’d prefer it be something I find value in. I’ll take the risk of being wrong - although I’m certainly looking at the world through less rose-tinted glasses than I used to.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#44

Post by JKCalhoun »

dedicate wrote: post #14

I'm always blown away by the vision behind stuff like HyperCard. It was all about giving non-techies the keys to the kingdom. But looking at today's tech landscape, with its walled gardens and app stores, I can't help but feel we've gone backwards.

Yeah, Hypercard or MacPaint (really a demo for Quickdraw). Had he done only one of those two he would still rank as a genius.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#46

Post by 9d »

roughly wrote: post #43
9d wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've wasted countless years on pursuits I thought were good but later determined to have been bad, and therefore deeply regretted. I don't wish this on anyone. I've also wasted countless years on pursuits I still think were good but overall never truly helped make the world better. This was less bad and seems inevitable.

Yeah I got a couple places on my resume I don’t like to talk about anymore. Turns out an awful lot of things are bad for the world in the wrong hands. Still, if I’m going to spend a third of my life on something - and, more importantly, if I’m going to be responsible for my efforts contributing to something - I’d prefer it be something I find value in. I’ll take the risk of being wrong - although I’m certainly lookin…

I agree, and I'm convinced selling my own software is the only way I can do that. At least for me. I just need to put it all together now, all the skillsets I've honed for decades, and the insight I might have gleaned from what people need.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#47

Post by floren »

throwanem wrote: post #40
monkeyelite wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real sin is having both.

I don't get it. I grew up with green and amber CRTs and I don't miss those days at all. What makes it mean so much, to you kids who never knew those days to miss?

Looks cooler, and you tell yourself that you're saving your eyes as you sit in your blackout-curtained hacker den... but the pitch black hacker den is also part of the desired aesthetic.

Real Hackers didn't use rgb dweeb keyboards though

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#48

Post by 9d »

jonstewart wrote: post #42
9d wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had that feeling too. How do we get it back? How do we share it with others? There has to be a way.

I have been thinking about this more, about how I spent hours and days exploring everything of my family’s new Mac SE, and then HyperCard, and creating with it. There is an aspect of creativity that comes from being inspired, taking off from others’ ideas. But there is also an aspect of creativity that’s more ascetic, and requires being bored—when there’s nothing else to do, turn the computer into a toy, to play with…

100% agree, you must be bored to be inspired.

I think I know how to recapture that "whole new world" feeling and share it.

It's on the tip of my tongue, and has been for a while.

But I can't fully see it yet. I need to go offline for a while. You're right.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#49

Post by 9d »

duxup wrote: post #33

What a wonderful read. I find myself pining for a lot of the "old days" when anything seemed possible and it was open and exciting. You could DO surprisingly, not a lot, but everything still felt possible. Now everything seems trapped in advertising dominated closed box. Login and live in this limited little space... The internet is still there, I can still put up a site that isn't covered with ads. I wish I could su…

> I wish I could surf just that internet and so on.

You just solved it for me.

I've been wondering what to use 90s.dev for.

That's it.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#50

Post by thowawatp302 »

kibwen wrote: post #31
dedicate wrote: post #14

I'm always blown away by the vision behind stuff like HyperCard. It was all about giving non-techies the keys to the kingdom. But looking at today's tech landscape, with its walled gardens and app stores, I can't help but feel we've gone backwards.

What's worse, in context here, is Apple's distinguished primary role in bringing this about.

Idk 2003-2009 was very much the days of the sort of malware and spyware that showed developers in a company didn’t deserve rights anymore
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