Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
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Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#2> This was his way of trying to be “top gun” when in a room where he wasn’t the smartest person.)
Why on the earth all the "business" people is so stupid ?
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#3> This was his way of trying to be “top gun” when in a room where he wasn’t the smartest person.) Why on the earth all the "business" people is so stupid ?
Yes. That's exactly how he came to that conclusion.
Alan Kay scanned the room, noted some of the the greatest minds and contributors of early personal computers, took one look at Steve Jobs and assessed he wasn't the smartest person in the room because he was a business person.
It had nothing to do with his youth, lack of accomplishments, insight, ability to articulate himself at that age, etc. etc. etc. It also had nothing to do with the caliber of people they were hiring at Xerox, many who came from SRI and who had helped realize Doug Engelbart's vision.
It all came down to business people vs. tech.
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#4I was present at the visit and demo, and it was the work of my group and myself that Steve saw, yet the Quora question is the first time that anyone has asked me what happened. (Worth pondering that interesting fact!)
That really is interesting. I am surprised Michael Hiltzik never asked about it during the research for Dealers of Lightning. Given its length that book probably tries to cover too much ground, but it's interesting that they never had that conversation. (IIRC the author quotes Adele Goldberg in that chapter)
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#5> This was his way of trying to be “top gun” when in a room where he wasn’t the smartest person.) Why on the earth all the "business" people is so stupid ?
Yes. That's exactly how he came to that conclusion. Alan Kay scanned the room, noted some of the the greatest minds and contributors of early personal computers, took one look at Steve Jobs and assessed he wasn't the smartest person in the room because he was a business person. It had nothing to do with his youth, lack of accomplishments, insight, ability to articulate himself at that age, etc. etc. etc. It also had…
Also interesting is how Kay dismisses Job's objections as being motivated by needing to put someone down.
I can as easily see them being constructive usability criticisms: details that the engineers steeped in developing it missed, but concrete things that would stop actual customer adoption.
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. That's exactly how he came to that conclusion. Alan Kay scanned the room, noted some of the the greatest minds and contributors of early personal computers, took one look at Steve Jobs and assessed he wasn't the smartest person in the room because he was a business person. It had nothing to do with his youth, lack of accomplishments, insight, ability to articulate himself at that age, etc. etc. etc. It also had…
Also interesting is how Kay dismisses Job's objections as being motivated by needing to put someone down. I can as easily see them being constructive usability criticisms: details that the engineers steeped in developing it missed, but concrete things that would stop actual customer adoption.
From the article:
First, it’s worth understanding that many people (perhaps even a thousand or more) had seen live demos of the Alto and Smalltalk before Steve. This is because Steve showed up in 1979, and the Alto and Smalltalk had been running for 6 years (starting in the first half of 1973), and we were a relatively open lab for visiting colleagues and other interested people (like Herbie Hancock and Al Gore).
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#7Here is a recreation of the change that Dan Ingalls did to Smalltalk-78 to address Steve Jobs' objection that scrolling wasn't smooth enough:
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also interesting is how Kay dismisses Job's objections as being motivated by needing to put someone down. I can as easily see them being constructive usability criticisms: details that the engineers steeped in developing it missed, but concrete things that would stop actual customer adoption.
From the article: First, it’s worth understanding that many people (perhaps even a thousand or more) had seen live demos of the Alto and Smalltalk before Steve. This is because Steve showed up in 1979, and the Alto and Smalltalk had been running for 6 years (starting in the first half of 1973), and we were a relatively open lab for visiting colleagues and other interested people (like Herbie Hancock and Al Gore).
Yeah, I read that: seems to support my point.
Basically: they had been doing it for years, but Jobs saw what was missing to make it actually usable.
Could be wrong: I wasn't there :)
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. That's exactly how he came to that conclusion. Alan Kay scanned the room, noted some of the the greatest minds and contributors of early personal computers, took one look at Steve Jobs and assessed he wasn't the smartest person in the room because he was a business person. It had nothing to do with his youth, lack of accomplishments, insight, ability to articulate himself at that age, etc. etc. etc. It also had…
Also interesting is how Kay dismisses Job's objections as being motivated by needing to put someone down. I can as easily see them being constructive usability criticisms: details that the engineers steeped in developing it missed, but concrete things that would stop actual customer adoption.
> Also interesting is how Kay dismisses Job's objections as being motivated by needing to put someone down.
You realize that's a thing, right? People do that on both a conscious and subconscious level. Some people actively play those manipulation games, especially creative sales people. Some people merely benefit from that tactic without fully appreciating that they're doing it.
I wasn't there, so I can't weigh in. It could be that Kay was projecting, and it could be that Kay is a perceptive person and was merely recognizing a young cocky kid using an old power tactic.
Re: Alan Kay on What was it like to be at Xerox PARC when Steve Jobs visited?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the article: First, it’s worth understanding that many people (perhaps even a thousand or more) had seen live demos of the Alto and Smalltalk before Steve. This is because Steve showed up in 1979, and the Alto and Smalltalk had been running for 6 years (starting in the first half of 1973), and we were a relatively open lab for visiting colleagues and other interested people (like Herbie Hancock and Al Gore).
Yeah, I read that: seems to support my point. Basically: they had been doing it for years, but Jobs saw what was missing to make it actually usable. Could be wrong: I wasn't there :)
I guess 6 years of Moor's law made it "productionizable"?