I miss gebaca.
Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
61–70 of 79 posts
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#62God , here we go again. Yet another example of companies stealing from Apple. This is clearly similar enough to the Macintosh (1984) that I'm surprised Apple didn't sue the hell out of AT&T. They certainly sued the hell out of Microsoft[1], so AT&T must have been lucky. Around the same time, Myron Krueger had the gall to demonstrate pinch-to-zoom[2], nearly 23 years before Apple patented it. So many people piggy-back…
Development of the Lisa started in 1978 and it was released in 1983. The Blit was started in 1981 and released as the 5620 in 1984, the same year as the Mac. So unfortunately the facts render your sarcasm rather hollow. Anyway, the Blit doesn't infringe on Apple as it doesn't include any of the things Apple did genuinely develop independently - like pull-down menus, resizable and moveable windows, overlapping windows…
I'm fairly confident that many (most?) of the gui elements you listed were invented by Xerox and willfully copied by Apple. Certainly stacking resizable movable windows, pull-down menus, and manipulable desktop items.
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Development of the Lisa started in 1978 and it was released in 1983. The Blit was started in 1981 and released as the 5620 in 1984, the same year as the Mac. So unfortunately the facts render your sarcasm rather hollow. Anyway, the Blit doesn't infringe on Apple as it doesn't include any of the things Apple did genuinely develop independently - like pull-down menus, resizable and moveable windows, overlapping windows…
I'm fairly confident that many (most?) of the gui elements you listed were invented by Xerox and willfully copied by Apple. Certainly stacking resizable movable windows, pull-down menus, and manipulable desktop items. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star
Please read this article[0] and educate yourself. The amount of misinformation surrounding the Apple-Xerox relationship is dizzying.
edit: this article[1] is a bit briefer, and provides much of the same information.
[0] http://obamapacman.com/2010/03/myth-copyright-theft-apple-st...
[1] http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#64Without getting too technical, what had to change under the hood and in hardware in order to make this happen?
The first paragraph of Rob Pike's write up: The Blit* is a graphics terminal characterized more by the software it runs than the hardware itself. The hardware is simple and inexpensive (Figure 1): 256K bytes of memory dual-ported between an 800x1024x1 bit display and a Motorola MC68000 microprocessor, with 24K of ROM, an RS-232 interface, a mouse and a keyboard. Unlike many graphics terminals, it has no special-purpo…
This looks like more hardware than a contemporary Macintosh, so I have to ask: inexpensive compared to what? A VAX?
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#65Link doesn't seem to work anymore, here is the same video (I assume) and a the original paper describing the Blit:
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Development of the Lisa started in 1978 and it was released in 1983. The Blit was started in 1981 and released as the 5620 in 1984, the same year as the Mac. So unfortunately the facts render your sarcasm rather hollow. Anyway, the Blit doesn't infringe on Apple as it doesn't include any of the things Apple did genuinely develop independently - like pull-down menus, resizable and moveable windows, overlapping windows…
I'm fairly confident that many (most?) of the gui elements you listed were invented by Xerox and willfully copied by Apple. Certainly stacking resizable movable windows, pull-down menus, and manipulable desktop items. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star
Xerox Star User Interface (1982) -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4vC80Pv6Q
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
When did Apple patent pinch-to-zoom? This video is from 1988. Are you saying Apple patented it in 2011? First of all in 2006, before the iPhone came out, I saw Jeff Han from NYU demoing much more than just pinch-to-zoom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ And secondly, I thought Apple bought the pinch-to-zoom patent! I don't know much about it, but I am curious about the date.
> When did Apple patent pinch-to-zoom? This video is from 1988. The video is from 1988, but it appears the work was around 1983. The pinch-to-zoom (on 'portable communication devices') patent[1] was filed in 2006, issued in 2010. [1] http://goo.gl/gHgEB
If that is the case, what about the Jeff Han video which came out in 2006? Jeff Han was obviously working on it for at least a year before he gave that talk. Shouldn't that be obvious prior art? He talks about pinch and much more!
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#68"The mouse has three buttons, and the Blit software maintains a convention about what the buttons do."
http://doc.cat-v.org/bell_labs/blit/blit.pdf
RISCOS and Arthur (Acorn Computers, UK) had a three button mouse and the middle button brought up a local menu for the window under the button. I often wondered where that came from...
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm surprised AT&T didn't sue the hell out of apple because BLIT is clearly older than the Macintosh. BLIT is actually from 1982 as is shown in the video at 3:50 and in the copyright notice some seconds later. The wikipedia article also claims it's 1882.
He was being sarcastic... unless you're being sarcastic too? Newsflash. Sarcasm on the Internet does not work unless you use tags!
> Sarcasm on the Internet does not work unless you use tags!
It works fine:
If I'm sarcastic and you don't get it, it's because you're incompetent at reading.
If you're sarcastic and I don't get it, it's because you're incompetent at writing.
See? Perfect!
Re: Blit: a multitasking, windowed Unix GUI from 1982
#70I dig the terminology they use. Layer is a great term. Also loved the distinct lack of chrome around layers. The invisible interface is still the future.
I dunno, affordances are pretty nifty. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance ) It's a tradeoff of clutter vs. learning curve. And I have to imagine the future will, as always, be a tradeoff between the two.
Its a great point and I love a good set of affordances, that said all it took was seeing the 4 finger gestures on the ipad once and I could never forget them. The 4 finger pull the a up for switching and full hand movement for closing the app are so natural.
OsX has gotten rid of the little handles on the edge too- I imagine its all going to disappear.