4 ms·
Like Scott said, pretty awesome data dump on GM. Telescript is a whole story in itself. I remember being in a meeting where Marc was pitching Pocket Crystal t
by bitsavers 4y ago
Like Scott said, pretty awesome data dump on GM.
Telescript is a whole story in itself.
I remember being in a meeting where Marc was pitching Pocket Crystal to Al Alcorn at Apple.
The dark side was the company was peak ex-Apple rock star programmer ego.
- KerrAvon 4y agoThat, most of all, is what comes across in the GM movie — there were no adults in the room, at any point. So they built things that were cool that people didn’t want.
- KerrAvon 4y agoI did actually briefly use a Magic Cap device back in the mid-90’s. It was neat. But it felt like a crippled version of the internet as imagined by HyperCard stack authors circa 1987.
- twoodfin 4y agoAgree. They needed someone laser-focused on capital-P Product. I wonder if the ex-Apple folks had failed to appreciate that having been an essential part of Jobs’ role.
- joezydeco 4y agoThis is a great anecdote too. Porat explaining his agent concept to Thomas Dolby (yes, the musician) while Bill Gates listened in and blew a fuse: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17667776 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17667776
- bitsavers 4y agosince the original was from 2018... "Microsoft came out with a competing technology in that timeframe called 'Microsoft Pen Computing' as a direct response to the hype around General Magic." It was actually put out to kill Go/Penpoint, not GM
- GeekyBear 4y agoPenpoint was a case of the software being very far ahead of it's time. Given that it was run by a Xerox PARC alum, that might be expected. The February 1991 issue of Byte had an introduction to Penpoint, and you can find issue scans online. https://worldradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm https://worldradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm