4 ms·

I think it's wonderful to see "pure R&D" these days. The days of Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, etc. are gone. Even NASA is so much more restrained. Focus on practica

by salmo 5y ago

I think it's wonderful to see "pure R&D" these days. The days of Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, etc. are gone. Even NASA is so much more restrained. Focus on practicality leads to incremental change. But free research and aspirational (maybe impractical) goals are what brought us the revolutionary technology we rely on today. This is as kooky as Doug Englebart's team's work was at the time, and similar in the focus on the human/machine interface. Some aspect or later interpretation may stick just like Augment's ripples through the industry. Startups can't do it. It takes large organizations to maintain the resources for long-term benefit like this. So I commend Yamaha for putting the cash into an impractical effort. I hope they keep it going. My kids may get something revolutionary out of it.

ece 5y ago
Augment?
- salmo 5y ago
  The Augmentation Research Center (aka Augment) was Englebart's lab at SRI. This was a project that wanted to change computers from being number crunching machines to "augmenting human intellect". Things like the mouse, windowing systems, video conferencing, and hypertext came out of that lab and spilled into Xerox PARC, etc. It was also the SRI end of the original Arpanet connection with Berkeley. Other ideas, like a keyboard that worked via "chords" didn't pan out. It made it so one hand could use the mouse and the other could use the keyboard without switching back and forth. I'm sure many folks with RSI wish for that. I would check out the "Mother of all Demos". It's out on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY And of course you can look up Englebart on Wikipedia or whatever. And if you are interested in the topic more I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by John Markoff. It plays this history out more before and after.

by salmo 5y ago

ece 5y ago

Augment?

salmo 5y ago
The Augmentation Research Center (aka Augment) was Englebart's lab at SRI. This was a project that wanted to change computers from being number crunching machines to "augmenting human intellect". Things like the mouse, windowing systems, video conferencing, and hypertext came out of that lab and spilled into Xerox PARC, etc. It was also the SRI end of the original Arpanet connection with Berkeley. Other ideas, like a keyboard that worked via "chords" didn't pan out. It made it so one hand could use the mouse and the other could use the keyboard without switching back and forth. I'm sure many folks with RSI wish for that. I would check out the "Mother of all Demos". It's out on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY And of course you can look up Englebart on Wikipedia or whatever. And if you are interested in the topic more I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by John Markoff. It plays this history out more before and after.