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They were working in a total vacuum. Computers were classically giant things that simply tabulated or ran physics simulations. To create an entire well articula

They were working in a total vacuum. Computers were classically giant things that simply tabulated or ran physics simulations. To create an entire well articulated vision of HCI is extremely difficult and requires both creativity and technical competence. I would not make such statements that it was easier to innovate then. In fact, I’d say it’s way easier to innovate now that so much exists to play with and mix and match, not to mention the ability to have perspective on negatives of assumptions previously made that can be corrected.

retrocryptid 5y ago
well... not a TOTAL vacuum. a number of the PARC people (thinking of Tesler & Kay) were intimately familiar with Englebart's work at SRI. When the ARC (Engelbart's Augmentation Research Center at SRI) was winding down and PARC was staffing up, the people who left first were supposedly those who rejected the "brittleness" of the expert-focused software ARC developed. It's definitely true that the cost of implementing a frame buffer fell well into the affordable range as they were moving to PARC. And politics at PARC made it easy to say you were developing a system for "inexpert document managers." They were definitely exploring new ideas about HCI as PC hardware was emerging. But Larry Tessler was pretty clear that Lisa learned what not to do from looking at the Alto & Star. And the Alto & Star learned what not to do by looking at various bits of ARC software. And Engelbart was adamant his team not repeat the UI/UX mistakes of ITS. So sure... they were trailblazers, but they had a good idea of where they wanted to go.
- azinman2 5y ago
  > So sure... they were trailblazers, but they had a good idea of where they wanted to go. And where would that be? Not so obvious. Stick in a random person and they’d have no idea. You could easily say the same thing today. Are you not wanting to make the mistakes of all previous computing and know the direction it should take? If you do, and you’re able to execute and change the direction of computing, you’d be a very rare talent indeed.

retrocryptid 5y ago

well... not a TOTAL vacuum. a number of the PARC people (thinking of Tesler & Kay) were intimately familiar with Englebart's work at SRI. When the ARC (Engelbart's Augmentation Research Center at SRI) was winding down and PARC was staffing up, the people who left first were supposedly those who rejected the "brittleness" of the expert-focused software ARC developed. It's definitely true that the cost of implementing a frame buffer fell well into the affordable range as they were moving to PARC. And politics at PARC made it easy to say you were developing a system for "inexpert document managers." They were definitely exploring new ideas about HCI as PC hardware was emerging. But Larry Tessler was pretty clear that Lisa learned what not to do from looking at the Alto & Star. And the Alto & Star learned what not to do by looking at various bits of ARC software. And Engelbart was adamant his team not repeat the UI/UX mistakes of ITS. So sure... they were trailblazers, but they had a good idea of where they wanted to go.

azinman2 5y ago
> So sure... they were trailblazers, but they had a good idea of where they wanted to go. And where would that be? Not so obvious. Stick in a random person and they’d have no idea. You could easily say the same thing today. Are you not wanting to make the mistakes of all previous computing and know the direction it should take? If you do, and you’re able to execute and change the direction of computing, you’d be a very rare talent indeed.