3 ms·

It’s amazing how much that team got right the very first time. So much that we take for granted in a single release. Probably very few examples like this in hi

It’s amazing how much that team got right the very first time. So much that we take for granted in a single release. Probably very few examples like this in history.

npunt 5y ago
To the public it was groundbreaking, but it is worth noting the ideas in both MacDraw and MacWrite were already approaching a decade old by that point, having first been on the Alto (Bravo and Markup) and later in house on the Lisa (LisaDraw, LisaSketch, and LisaWrite). One thing the Mac really had going for it was that these ideas had a long time to gestate and refine because everything was still quite experimental and nobody else was rushing to commercialize the research. Definitely not 'I built a prototype in 9 weeks and I happened to nail it on v1'. Agree with the sentiment though, they got a lot right on the first version, and it paved the way for a lot more.
- dmitriid 5y ago
  10 years, and still experimental, and they got it right. We're here 40 years later and all of that is forgotten and thrown out of the window. Often by Apple themselves.
kristopolous 5y ago
Sometimes they can get everything right but the business model, such as penpoint os (https://youtu.be/x0XE08BjQDQ https://youtu.be/x0XE08BjQDQ)
- tambourine_man 5y ago
  I wasn’t aware of them. What was the business model problem from your point of view? Both the speed and weight were a deal breaker, from what I saw in the video. In the 90’s, if it took that long for text input on that thick heavy thing, I’m bringing my PowerBook instead.
  - kristopolous 5y ago
    Go read Jerry Kaplan's book "startup" about the issues or "The barbarians led by bill gates" Price, supply, competition, software availability - all the classic problems that plagues all the "might have beens"; from the Atari Jaguar, the BeBox, Amiga, etc. There's plenty of brilliant ideas that are in penpoint that have been abandoned. The stars aligned for Apple but they could have easily aligned for GRiD or Visi On or Digital Research as well. Heck, the Japanese MSX system could have achieved in the mid 1980s what the USCD p-system also failed at and we technically didn't get until the Java phones of the early 2000s of true cross system compatibility. So much of this is merely the whims and fancy of lady luck

It’s amazing how much that team got right the very first time. So much that we take for granted in a single release. Probably very few examples like this in history.

npunt 5y ago

To the public it was groundbreaking, but it is worth noting the ideas in both MacDraw and MacWrite were already approaching a decade old by that point, having first been on the Alto (Bravo and Markup) and later in house on the Lisa (LisaDraw, LisaSketch, and LisaWrite). One thing the Mac really had going for it was that these ideas had a long time to gestate and refine because everything was still quite experimental and nobody else was rushing to commercialize the research. Definitely not 'I built a prototype in 9 weeks and I happened to nail it on v1'. Agree with the sentiment though, they got a lot right on the first version, and it paved the way for a lot more.

dmitriid 5y ago
10 years, and still experimental, and they got it right. We're here 40 years later and all of that is forgotten and thrown out of the window. Often by Apple themselves.

kristopolous 5y ago

Sometimes they can get everything right but the business model, such as penpoint os (https://youtu.be/x0XE08BjQDQ https://youtu.be/x0XE08BjQDQ)

tambourine_man 5y ago
I wasn’t aware of them. What was the business model problem from your point of view? Both the speed and weight were a deal breaker, from what I saw in the video. In the 90’s, if it took that long for text input on that thick heavy thing, I’m bringing my PowerBook instead.
- kristopolous 5y ago
  Go read Jerry Kaplan's book "startup" about the issues or "The barbarians led by bill gates" Price, supply, competition, software availability - all the classic problems that plagues all the "might have beens"; from the Atari Jaguar, the BeBox, Amiga, etc. There's plenty of brilliant ideas that are in penpoint that have been abandoned. The stars aligned for Apple but they could have easily aligned for GRiD or Visi On or Digital Research as well. Heck, the Japanese MSX system could have achieved in the mid 1980s what the USCD p-system also failed at and we technically didn't get until the Java phones of the early 2000s of true cross system compatibility. So much of this is merely the whims and fancy of lady luck