3 ms·
I watched the General Magic documentary couple years back... I'm sure it was just my perception, and maybe the video editing, but by what I recall it looked lik
by gompertz 5y ago
I watched the General Magic documentary couple years back... I'm sure it was just my perception, and maybe the video editing, but by what I recall it looked like they mostly goofed off and it was more a think-tank than actually building stuff. It's possible the video was cut this was to align with the "fun, silicon valley" narratives. Perhaps others felt the same who saw the documentary?
- wmf 5y agoI got the same impression, although just from a few scenes. It's impressively bad that the Newton was a "clone" of General Magic yet it shipped years earlier.
- __d 5y agoWhile acknowledging the influence of General Magic on Apple's Newton work, I think it's inaccurate to characterize it as a "clone". A brief use of Magic Cap and Newton OS reveals in my opinion very little in common in the shipped products.
- GeekyBear 5y agoAgreed. Magic Cap was more like Microsoft Bob than it was like the Newton.
- setpatchaddress 5y agoI wouldn’t be that pejorative about it — the Magic Cap UI was actually useful — but yes, that’s closer.
- GeekyBear 5y agoBoth Magic Cap and Microsoft Bob had a user interface with a room based metaphor. You would select an object in a picture of a room to launch applications. You would navigate from room to room to find other groups of applications. That's not pejorative. It's descriptive.
- setpatchaddress 5y agoMy impression was that they were high on their own supply and there was no adult supervision at all, which I think aligns with your impression.