5 ms·

My favourite number, that I kept for years later, was from September/1990. It had interviews with everyone that was "important" back then (Gates & Allen (MS),

My favourite number, that I kept for years later, was from September/1990. It had interviews with everyone that was "important" back then (Gates & Allen (MS), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Doug Engelbart (mouse & GUIs), Tony Hoare (quicksort), Brian Kernigham, Donald Knuth, Bob Metcalfe (Ethernet), Philipe Kahn (Borland), Bob Noyce, Dennis Ritchie (C), Bjarne Stroustroup (C++), Wolfram) predicting the future. None of them predicted the Internet. [1] https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1990-09 https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1990-09

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
chronofallacy 8y ago
Definitely a gem. Here's a bit on Kapor founding the EFF, while law enforcement compares hackers to rapists: Lotus founder Mitch Kapor and several industry colleagues have formed an organization they say will fight to ensure the Bill of Rights covers computer-based communication and electronic information. The purpose of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (California, MA), is to combat violations of civil liberties, Kapor says, as well as educate government policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and the public about computers. The EFF has taken heat from some members of the industry because they see it as simply a "hacker defense fund," and some law enforcement officials are not necessarily in favor of it. "It's as if NOW started a foundation to come to the assistance of [people charged in] rape cases," says Don Ingraham, chief of the high-tech crime team and an assistant district attorney for Alameda County in northern California. "We don't know what to think of it." He says he doesn't understand why the computer industry would defend people trying to break into their systems.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
peapicker 8y ago
Do you mean none of them predicted the web? We were already calling it the internet when I started college in 88 and after all, it ran on TCP/IP(the latter stands for Internet Protocol) which ARPANET adopted in 1983.
- mistrial9 8y ago
  this is not making the point well -- in 1988 there were multiple, competing protocols that ran over whatever the carrier medium was.. TCP/IP was nascent, and did not route as we know it today.
- diego_moita 8y ago
  > Do you mean none of them predicted the web? I mean the whole social, cultural and economic impact and, yes, the web is a very important part of it. But there were a few more things in that early era, besides the web (e.g.:ICQ, IRC, Napster).
- forapurpose 8y ago
  The article is in the September 1990 issue, and the first webpage was deployed a few months later. Obviously, if any of those people envisioned the web or anything like it, they would have done it themselves. 'Obviously' is usually used in hindsight.
dmazin 8y ago
Gordon Bell and Engelbart were surprisingly spot-on regarding connectivity. It seems that for the people who are canonically regarded as visionaries, massive connectivity through tiny devices was obvious. For Bill Gates, not so much. BYTE: Let's discuss the subject of portability. Do you think we'll have notebook computers or pocket computers? How do you think the size will evolve? Gordon Bell: The computer will disappear by another 10 years in [its present form]. There will be zero-cost notebook-size computers with one chip in them that will have about 32 megabytes. So people will be carrying around these sort of minicellular, really connected, computers that go into their own databases somewhere. Doug Engelbart: Everyone’s going to have a computer-carried around, or surgically implanted, or sitting on your hat or your spectacles or what-and they’re all going to be connected into networks just totally, [and] those networks will be wireless. BYTE: This sounds more like a portable office than a portable computer. Do you really think cellular phones and faxes will enter the notebook arena? Bill Gates: That's a little radical. I don't think it's necessary. If you can connect up every few hours, that's good enough. The machine in the office will just have this optic fiber that will go off to the world net work out there. It will directly connect to some kind of server and will have a lot of storage.
- 9erdelta 8y ago
  Wow Bill Gates' perspective is interesting because what is radical now is for a phone to NOT be continuously connected. If my phone has no internet, that is a bad time. So easy to become complacent and rely on an internet connection for pretty much all useful information.
- smacktoward 8y ago
  Gates' blind spot regarding connectivity and the Internet was still in full effect five years later, when his book The Road Ahead (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Bill_Gates_book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Bill_Gates_boo...) came out. I vividly remember sitting there in 1995 reading the hardcover first edition and thinking "man, this guy just does not get it." Fortunately for Microsoft, he eventually did get it, though only just in time -- not long after the book hit the shelves.
- hakfoo 8y ago
dylan604 8y ago
I recently found myself in Boston needing computer stuff, and wound up at Micro Center in Cambridge. It was interesting in that they had pictures of the computing legends. Your list reminded me of that, as most of your list was represented in these portraits.
- da02 8y ago
  What were the prices like? Anything interesting for sale there that is not found in other stores?
  - dylan604 8y ago
    Nothing to make it any different from any other computer store, except for one thing. It was 5 minutes away from me. I was able to run in, find the needed thing, and then go back to doing what was needed. Didn't need to wait for UPS to show up the next day. I was very thankful that MicroCenter has not been forced to close from websites like most of the other brick&mortar stores have had to do.
  - 83457 8y ago
    There is one close to me in the DC area. The biggest thing is that they have just about everything you would want a computer/electronics store to have ... machines (PC and Apple), components, networking gear, highend gaming peripherals, hobbyist electronics/computers, repair services and a bunch of other related products and toys. Sometimes at work we are looking up server components for an upgrade/replacement, network switch and I think even rails for a server once then realize microcenter just down the street has it at about the same price. Most of this stuff just isn't available anywhere else in one place except online at this point.
    - xtiansimon 8y ago
      > Most of this stuff just isn't available anywhere else in one place except online at this point. By anywhere else, do you mean _near you_? In a word, Frys. hahah
abecedarius 8y ago
Considering Ted Nelson (for a start) was one of them, that's a little unfair.
xtiansimon 8y ago
LoL. Random page. "A small price to pay for greatness" 25MHz Dell for $3599

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

chronofallacy 8y ago

Definitely a gem. Here's a bit on Kapor founding the EFF, while law enforcement compares hackers to rapists: Lotus founder Mitch Kapor and several industry colleagues have formed an organization they say will fight to ensure the Bill of Rights covers computer-based communication and electronic information. The purpose of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (California, MA), is to combat violations of civil liberties, Kapor says, as well as educate government policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and the public about computers. The EFF has taken heat from some members of the industry because they see it as simply a "hacker defense fund," and some law enforcement officials are not necessarily in favor of it. "It's as if NOW started a foundation to come to the assistance of [people charged in] rape cases," says Don Ingraham, chief of the high-tech crime team and an assistant district attorney for Alameda County in northern California. "We don't know what to think of it." He says he doesn't understand why the computer industry would defend people trying to break into their systems.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

peapicker 8y ago

Do you mean none of them predicted the web? We were already calling it the internet when I started college in 88 and after all, it ran on TCP/IP(the latter stands for Internet Protocol) which ARPANET adopted in 1983.

mistrial9 8y ago
this is not making the point well -- in 1988 there were multiple, competing protocols that ran over whatever the carrier medium was.. TCP/IP was nascent, and did not route as we know it today.
diego_moita 8y ago
> Do you mean none of them predicted the web? I mean the whole social, cultural and economic impact and, yes, the web is a very important part of it. But there were a few more things in that early era, besides the web (e.g.:ICQ, IRC, Napster).
forapurpose 8y ago
The article is in the September 1990 issue, and the first webpage was deployed a few months later. Obviously, if any of those people envisioned the web or anything like it, they would have done it themselves. 'Obviously' is usually used in hindsight.

dmazin 8y ago

Gordon Bell and Engelbart were surprisingly spot-on regarding connectivity. It seems that for the people who are canonically regarded as visionaries, massive connectivity through tiny devices was obvious. For Bill Gates, not so much. BYTE: Let's discuss the subject of portability. Do you think we'll have notebook computers or pocket computers? How do you think the size will evolve? Gordon Bell: The computer will disappear by another 10 years in [its present form]. There will be zero-cost notebook-size computers with one chip in them that will have about 32 megabytes. So people will be carrying around these sort of minicellular, really connected, computers that go into their own databases somewhere. Doug Engelbart: Everyone’s going to have a computer-carried around, or surgically implanted, or sitting on your hat or your spectacles or what-and they’re all going to be connected into networks just totally, [and] those networks will be wireless. BYTE: This sounds more like a portable office than a portable computer. Do you really think cellular phones and faxes will enter the notebook arena? Bill Gates: That's a little radical. I don't think it's necessary. If you can connect up every few hours, that's good enough. The machine in the office will just have this optic fiber that will go off to the world net work out there. It will directly connect to some kind of server and will have a lot of storage.

9erdelta 8y ago
Wow Bill Gates' perspective is interesting because what is radical now is for a phone to NOT be continuously connected. If my phone has no internet, that is a bad time. So easy to become complacent and rely on an internet connection for pretty much all useful information.
smacktoward 8y ago
Gates' blind spot regarding connectivity and the Internet was still in full effect five years later, when his book The Road Ahead (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Bill_Gates_book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Bill_Gates_boo...) came out. I vividly remember sitting there in 1995 reading the hardcover first edition and thinking "man, this guy just does not get it." Fortunately for Microsoft, he eventually did get it, though only just in time -- not long after the book hit the shelves.
hakfoo 8y ago

dylan604 8y ago

I recently found myself in Boston needing computer stuff, and wound up at Micro Center in Cambridge. It was interesting in that they had pictures of the computing legends. Your list reminded me of that, as most of your list was represented in these portraits.

da02 8y ago
What were the prices like? Anything interesting for sale there that is not found in other stores?
- dylan604 8y ago
  Nothing to make it any different from any other computer store, except for one thing. It was 5 minutes away from me. I was able to run in, find the needed thing, and then go back to doing what was needed. Didn't need to wait for UPS to show up the next day. I was very thankful that MicroCenter has not been forced to close from websites like most of the other brick&mortar stores have had to do.
- 83457 8y ago
  There is one close to me in the DC area. The biggest thing is that they have just about everything you would want a computer/electronics store to have ... machines (PC and Apple), components, networking gear, highend gaming peripherals, hobbyist electronics/computers, repair services and a bunch of other related products and toys. Sometimes at work we are looking up server components for an upgrade/replacement, network switch and I think even rails for a server once then realize microcenter just down the street has it at about the same price. Most of this stuff just isn't available anywhere else in one place except online at this point.
  - xtiansimon 8y ago
    > Most of this stuff just isn't available anywhere else in one place except online at this point. By anywhere else, do you mean _near you_? In a word, Frys. hahah

abecedarius 8y ago

Considering Ted Nelson (for a start) was one of them, that's a little unfair.

xtiansimon 8y ago

LoL. Random page. "A small price to pay for greatness" 25MHz Dell for $3599