A few words on Doug Engelbart

#1

Post by llambda » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 1:14 AM UTC

A few words on Doug Engelbart
worrydream.com

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#2

Post by nhamann » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 1:47 AM UTC

> Engelbart hated our present-day systems.

I'm not trying to say "[citation needed]" here, but I would be interested in seeing a source for this. Does anyone know of one?

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#3

Post by jonahx » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 1:56 AM UTC

every time i read something brett writes, i learn something new and feel like my world view has expanded a little bit.

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#4

Post by akanet » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:16 AM UTC

I found that the quip about how the document that they are sharing while having a conversation is not screensharing as we commonly understand it in modern parlance to be pretty illuminating. That modern screensharing is in several ways worse than a demo that came out decades ago is frankly amazing.

I've tried to recapture a bit of that early magic with https://coderpad.io/ (multiple cursors, realtime editing/execution of code), but I can only imagine how jaw dropping that demo must have been when it came out.

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#5

Post by jonahx » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:27 AM UTC

akanet wrote: post #4

I found that the quip about how the document that they are sharing while having a conversation is not screensharing as we commonly understand it in modern parlance to be pretty illuminating. That modern screensharing is in several ways worse than a demo that came out decades ago is frankly amazing. I've tried to recapture a bit of that early magic with https://coderpad.io/ (multiple cursors, realtime editing/executio…

It really is amazing.

I feel like there is a similar mismatch and almost backwards progress when you look at the concepts and tools behind smalltalk and the concepts most working programmers today reason with and are familiar with.

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#6

Post by lukasb » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:50 AM UTC

"Ignore today; just think about it in terms of his goals."

reminds me of

"Do not follow in the footsteps of the masters; seek what they sought."

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#7

Post by kaflurbaleen » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:54 AM UTC

This book, "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counter culture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" is by the same guy who wrote the NYT obit with "the most facile interpretation of Engelbart" headline. It goes into far more depth about Engelbart's goals of augmenting human intellect.

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#8

Post by mpu » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:55 AM UTC

This is a bit needlessly aggressive.

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#9

Post by jfb » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:57 AM UTC

jonahx wrote: post #5

akanet wrote: post #4

I found that the quip about how the document that they are sharing while having a conversation is not screensharing as we commonly understand it in modern parlance to be pretty illuminating. That modern screensharing is in several ways worse than a demo that came out decades ago is frankly amazing. I've tried to recapture a bit of that early magic with https://coderpad.io/ (multiple cursors, realtime editing/executio…

It really is amazing. I feel like there is a similar mismatch and almost backwards progress when you look at the concepts and tools behind smalltalk and the concepts most working programmers today reason with and are familiar with.

I never had more than a passing interaction with a full blown Smalltalk-80 environment, but that was enough to make me look at e.g. any Java system and just feel sick to the stomach.

Re: A few words on Doug Engelbart

#10

Post by seanmcdirmid » Thu, Jul 04, 2013, 2:58 AM UTC

mpu wrote: post #8

This is a bit needlessly aggressive.

It's called passion.